Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has avoided directly answering a question as to whether Hong Kong people should commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen massacre.

He was asked by reporters on Tuesday morning, ahead of the weekly Executive Council meeting, for his views on young people saying they will not commemorate the event.

“Hong Kong is a part of the country, Hong Kong people and the people of the whole country are attached by blood,” he said. “Hong Kong people should care about major events that took place on the mainland – we hope to boost mutual advancement in political, social and economical aspects with the people of the whole country.”

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying. Photo: GovHK screenshot.

Last year, a meeting between lawmakers and Chinese officials in Shenzhen collided with the day of a march commemorating the June 4 crackdown. Leung said at the time that “there will be a commemoration of June 4 every year” and lawmakers should take the opportunity to meet with officials to discuss the, since failed, political reform package.

Change of tune?

The advertisement from Leung Chun-ying condemning the June 4 crackdown, June 5, 1989. Photo: Apple Daily.

On June 5, 1989, Leung published an advertisement in a newspaper mourning the dead and condemning the Chinese authorities’ “bloody massacre”.