Hong Kong's public broadcaster RTHK should fulfill the responsibility of upholding the very important and fundamental "one country, two systems" principle, Carrie Lam, chief executive of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), said Tuesday.
Lam made the remarks at a weekly press briefing when answering a question about an RTHK journalist recently asking an official of the World Health Organization (WHO) about the possibility of Taiwan's membership during an interview.
Edward Yau, secretary for commerce and economic development of the HKSAR government, criticized the program as breaching the one-China principle in a statement on last Thursday.
RTHK, also a government department, should have a proper understanding that the WHO membership is based on sovereign states without any deviation, according to the statement.
Lam said she supports Yau's stance and position and stressed that "RTHK could not claim immunity by being a public broadcaster and not observe this very important principle of 'one country, two systems.'"
There are very clear requirements of the public broadcaster's role in deepening Hong Kong residents' understanding of "one country, two systems" in the charter of RTHK, Lam said.
Lam said she will leave Yau and Director of Broadcasting Leung Ka-wing, who is also RTHK's editor-in-chief, to do further explanation as the pair will attend a Legislative Council meeting later Tuesday.
