"Separation of powers" doesn't exist in the Hong Kong, the city's leader Carrie Lam said in a news briefing on 1 September 2020.
She said dispute on the concept comes from people misunderstanding how things work in the SAR.
The row came after her education minister also said, just a day before, that there was no separation of powers in Hong Kong, as he announced a review of the contentious Liberal Studies subject in schools.
Scroll down for the full script.
(Aired on ViuTVSix on 1 September 2020)
Full Script:
An effective separation of powers, in theory, prevents power from being abused by any one of the three branches in a political system: the legislature, the executive and the judiciary.
"There is no 'separation of powers' in Hong Kong."
The Chief Executive denied that ever existed in the SAR. She said there was "nothing clearer" than the Basic Law, the city's mini constitution, which has no mention of the term.
She said those who cited well-known people or judges on this matter are mistaken. And the dispute came from people's "misunderstanding" of the city's constitutional system.
(Soundbite, CARRIE LAM, Chief Executive)
"The problem could be insufficient education, publicity on our part. Some people may have a limited grasp of the issue. Or some people may have tried to mislead others on purpose. But from this day onward. Rather, since I started my term of government, we've attached great importance to so-called 'righting the wrongs.' We must boldly say things which are correct."
Lam said Hong Kong is an executive-led government. All three branches, are accountable to Beijing through her.
Lam also said it's wrong to think the Chief Executive is just the head of the executive branch.
She highlighted her power under the Basic Law to appoint or remove judges, and approve spending for the legislature.
Legal sector lawmaker Dennis Kwok called her remarks, on the whole, "ludicrous."
And legal scholar Eric Cheung worried the implications of her words to the city's rule of law.
(Soundbite, ERIC CHEUNG Principal lecturer, HKU law department)
"In the drafting of (the) Basic Law, it was very clear at that time there is no mention of any check or balance over the judiciary by the executive branch. Her reference to the executive can, by means of the resources of the judiciary, to warrant check and balance clearly run counter to the concept of rule of law."
The CE made her comments defending education chief Kevin Yeung who was the first official in her cabinet, to say yesterday Hong Kong didn't have a separation of powers.
She welcomed his bureau's review of Liberal Studies textbooks, to "explain more clearly" Hong Kong's constitutional system.
- ENDS -