- Title: Hong Kong top officials clash over controversial museum
- Date: 10th January 2017
- Summary: HONG KONG, CHINA (JANUARY 10, 2017) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF WEST KOWLOON CULTURAL DISTRICT VARIOUS OF MAP SHOWING PALACE MUSEUM PLANS HONG KONG CHIEF SECRETARY CARRIE LAM WALKING SITTING MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Cantonese) HONG KONG CHIEF SECRETARY, LAM CARRIE LAM, SAYING: "We shouldn't politicise cultural affairs, and moreover should not diminish the significance and value of the Palace Museum and its artefacts. We shouldn't deprive Hong Kong residents of the chance to admire the Palace Museum artefacts up close." LAM LEAVING VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS OUTSIDE FORMER CHIEF SECRETARY OF HONG KONG ANSON CHAN (SECOND FROM RIGHT) SPEAKING AT NEWS CONFERENCE CHAN SPEAKING SIGN READING (English/Chinese): "HONG KONG 2020" (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER CHIEF SECRETARY OF HONG KONG, ANSON CHAN, SAYING: "This isn't a question of whether people want the Palace Museum, it is a failure of the government to follow due process and establish public consultation process and to give people the impression - it may not be true - but the impression that people now have is, she is simply doing what she is told, now this does not all go well for anybody who aspires to be the future Chief Executive." VARIOUS OF MEDIA CHAN FINISHES NEWS CONFERENCE VARIOUS OF VICTORIA HARBOUR AT NIGHT
- Embargoed: 24th January 2017 17:19
- Keywords: Hong Kong China Palace Museum Beijing pro-independence Lam Carrie Anson Chan
- Location: HONG KONG, CHINA
- City: HONG KONG, CHINA
- Country: China
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0015YHZ0W7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Hong Kong's Chief Secretary, Carrie Lam, on Tuesday (January 10) defended the government's decision to build a replica of Beijing's Palace Museum to mark the 20th anniversary of the former British colony's return to Chinese control.
"We shouldn't politicise cultural affairs, and moreover should not diminish the significance and value of the Palace Museum and its artefacts. We shouldn't deprive Hong Kong residents of the chance to admire the Palace Museum artefacts up close," Lam said.
However Hong Kong's former Chief Secretary, Anson Chan criticized Lam for what she said was lack of consultation by the government in the decision-making process.
"It may not be true - but the impression that people now have is, she is simply doing what she is told, now this does not all go well for anyone who aspires to be the future Chief Executive," Chan told journalists at a news conference.
The construction of the Palace Museum is due to be completed in 2022.
The former imperial palace in the heart of China's capital is commonly regarded as a physical symbol of the country's long history and the Communist Party's might.
Hong Kong is ruled under a "one country, two systems" formula that gives it wide-ranging freedoms not seen in mainland China, including the right to hold a candlelight vigil to commemorate the Tiananmen crackdown.
Hong Kong democracy activists on Monday (January 9) vowed to use the site of a controversial museum intended to display national treasures from Beijing's Palace Museum to commemorate instead China's bloody crackdown on student-led protests in 1989.
For China's ruling Communist Party, the 1989 demonstrations that clogged Tiananmen Square in Beijing and spread to other cities remain taboo. The government has never released a death toll of the crackdown, but estimates from human rights groups and witnesses range from several hundred to several thousand. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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