In Brief: Party leader raps HK

Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang clap while Zhang Dejiang (centre), chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress prepares to speak at the 12th National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing, China, on March 5, 2016. PHOTO: EPA

Party leader raps HK

BEIJING • China's third-ranked Communist Party leader Zhang Dejiang said Hong Kong should not "politicise everything", and should instead focus on integrating its economy with China's, according to members of China's Parliament who met him yesterday.

However, he did not single out anyone, although Beijing has become concerned about youth groups in Hong Kong using increasingly radical or violent means.

REUTERS


Rebuke for regulators

BEIJING • A Shanghai representative to the National People's Congress lambasted China's market regulators yesterday for igniting a stock crisis that is "destroying the Chinese middle class", a rare rebuke for the authorities in their biggest annual event.

Businesswoman Fan Yun laid into brokerages for failing to educate investors, while also blaming regulators for failing to control margin lending and alternative credit.

REUTERS

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on March 07, 2016, with the headline In Brief: Party leader raps HK. Subscribe