Pro-Beijing coalition launched in Hong Kong

HONG KONG—Two of Hong Kong’s former leaders launched a pro-Beijing alliance Tuesday to uphold China’s “one country, two systems” policy and work to revive the city’s economy following months of anti-government protests.

The move by former chief executives Tung Chee-hwa and Leung Chun-ying comes ahead of key legislative elections in September.

The ruling pro-Beijing government took a drubbing in district elections held last year amid demonstrations calling for greater democracy.

Tung and Leung said the new Hong Kong Coalition will support employment by creating jobs, providing internships and offering volunteer work to fresh graduates.

They, however, did not provide details of how they would do that.

“We will give full play to ‘One Country, Two Systems’ and recover our economy, and continue to safeguard the rule of law so that we can achieve stability and prosperity in Hong Kong,” said Tung, who led the city from 1997 to 2005.

The launch of the coalition comes a day after Hong Kong said its economy contracted 8.9 per cent year-on-year for the first three months of 2020, the largest decline on record.

The city’s unemployment rate in March hit 4.2 per cent, the highest in over nine years and an increase for the sixth consecutive month.

Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam said on Tuesday that the economic contraction was “worse than expected.” but pledged to keep up government expenditure and investment to safeguard the economy.