Hong Kong’s Legislative Council (LegCo) has left for Beijing for a week-long study tour to learn about China’s development, the legislature’s president said.
Starry Lee, president of the Legislative Council, said in a Facebook post on Sunday that this is the first time an entire class of lawmakers has gone together to Beijing for a study visit.
“We are filled with anticipation. We will devote ourselves to our studies and make diligent observations,” Lee wrote in Chinese, adding that the trip was “of tremendous importance.”
All but one of the city’s 89 legislators are taking part in the trip. Legislator Ginny Wan did not join the Beijing tour, Sing Tao Daily reported.
The LegCo Secretariat said in a media response that Wan had notified President Lee in advance of her absence and that Lee had accepted her explanation.
Wan, a lawyer and a Hong Kong lawmaker in China’s National People’s Congress, was elected as a lawmaker in the Election Committee constituency in January.
A group photo of the lawmakers before they left for the trip, posted by Starry Lee, showed six lawmakers disappeared. But local media reported that five of them traveled to Beijing on their own and later joined their colleagues.
There are currently 89 legislators in the following legislature Resignation of William Wong in early July. Wong, who was a lawmaker of the constituency’s Election Committee, resigned from the post after his arrest for drunk driving.
‘A good time’ to learn about China
LegCo president Lee said on Facebook that the legislature had done important work over the past six months marking milestones in Hong Kong’s integration with China.
She said lawmakers prepared a research report for the government on Hong Kong’s first five-year plan and held an extra meeting before the travel break in Beijing to consider a bill on the new Huanggang Port. LegCo is currently on its summer break.
Therefore, now is “a good time” for lawmakers to visit mainland China and understand “the latest national policies,” Lee said, adding that she believes the “first-hand information” learned from the study visit will help lawmakers in their work.
Lee said the lawmakers will visit the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, as well as attend seminars on China’s ideologies, national security, five-year plans, foreign relations and China’s legal system.
They will also learn about the history of the Chinese Communist Party, as well as its basic governance and public service models, Lee added.
