Hong Kong Chief Executive: Democracy Would Empower the Poor

As talks between Hong Kong protesters and the Chinese government began on Tuesday, the region’s current chief executive C.Y. Leung spoke out against free elections on the grounds that it would empower the poor.

In his first interview with foreign media since the pro-democracy movement began, Leung said that if the public were allowed to nominate any candidate of their choosing, elections would be dominated by the large sector of Hong Kong residents currently living in poverty.

“You have to take care of all the sectors in Hong Kong as much as you can, and if it’s entirely a numbers game and numeric representation, then obviously you would be talking to half of the people in Hong Kong who earn less than $1,800 a month,” Leung said. “Then you would end up with that kind of politics and policies.”

Roughly 1.3 million Hong Kong residents—one-fifth of its population—live in poverty, according to government statistics released last year. A four-person household earning less than $1,800 a month is considered poor.

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Protesters have been staging mass rallies and sit-ins throughout the region for weeks, blocking intersections and occupying central business and government districts, to call for universal suffrage in their upcoming 2017 elections. Among their demands: C.Y. Leung’s resignation.

Leung, who previously refused to consider a dialogue with protesters, telling them on October 12 that they have “almost zero chance” at achieving true democracy for Hong Kong, announced last week that he was willing to open up talks with the movement’s leaders.

On Monday, he said that the government would “like to listen to the students as to what they have on their minds, and what their proposals are.”