Eric Chan attends UN Human Rights Council meeting

Chief Secretary Eric Chan has attended a United Nations Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva, where he pointed out that Hong Kong had fulfilled its constitutional duty to enact local national security legislation. Acting as the deputy head of China's delegation, he noted that the One Country, Two Systems principle has been the cornerstone of the SAR's long term prosperity and stability. At the meeting on Thursday, Mr Chan said: "In March this year, with overwhelming support from the public and our Legislative Council, we finally fulfilled our constitutional duty to enact local legislation to safeguard national security." He also noted that the city's economy is growing and vibrant, and that since late 2022, government talent admission schemes had attracted more than 320,000 applications from all over the world. This he said served as a clear vote of confidence in the city's bright future. Meanwhile, a government statement said the UN meeting discussed and formally adopted the review report on China, which includes contents about the Hong Kong SAR of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review of the Council. The review report of the working group covered a total of 428 recommendations raised with China by United Nations member states, including 24 pertaining to the SAR, it said. A government spokesman said that "the Hong Kong SAR government has been steadfastly joining the country in the review". He added that the territory has "actively responded to the views and suggestions about the human rights situation of the Hong Kong SAR from some countries, and sternly rebutted the unfounded and untrue remarks from a small number of countries“.