Chen Zuoer

Doh!

Mourning the death of Zhao Ziyang in the Legislative Council would contravene the Basic Law, a top Beijing official said yesterday.

Issues related to Zhao were a matter for the Communist Party, said Chen Zuoer, deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office.

His remarks to the Hong Kong media in Beijing sparked an angry response from pro-democracy legislators, who vowed to proceed with non-official commemorations.

Mr Chen was speaking after Legco president Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai rejected a request by lawmaker "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung for a silent tribute to Zhao in this afternoon's sitting.......

Basic Law Article 73 sets out the functions and powers of Legco, including debates on issues of public interest. But it contains no specific reference to mainland affairs.

Defending her ruling, Mrs Fan said she would only abide by "authoritative" interpretations of the Basic Law by the National People's Congress Standing Committee....... She rejected suggestions that her refusal to allow the minute of silence was the result of political pressure.

Asked why she had approved a silent tribute to Deng Xiaoping on his death in 1997, Mrs Fan said that was because Deng was the person who came up with and adopted the principle of "one country, two systems". He was also an internationally recognised politician.

"Mr Zhao is not comparable with Mr Deng in terms of their importance [to Hong Kong]," she said.

Asked how she weighed Zhao's importance as China's representative in signing the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984, she said: "He [Zhao] was then the premier ... and it was his job to sign the document."

Ma Lik, a local deputy to the National People's Congress, said the central government was worried that people might try to stir up trouble under the guise of commemorating Zhao.......

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The reformist premier who ended his life as a prisoner | SCMP
Zhao Ziyang was one of the few Communist Party leaders who dared to tamper with the sensitive subjects of political reform and openness.

His decision to visit the student demonstrators in Tiananmen Square on May 19, 1989 - after party leaders had branded them counter-revolutionaries - was bold and says much about the kind of leader he was.......

"In exercising the high degree of autonomy, the Hong Kong SAR [Special Administrative Region] must ensure the protection of the authority of the central government and the interests of the country.