Chief Secretary John Lee today said it is the Candidate Eligibility Review Committee‘s duty to assess whether candidates will truly uphold the Basic Law and pledge allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Speaking a day after he was named chairperson to the committee which will assist in assessing and validating the eligibility of candidates in the Election Committee, the Chief Executive and Legislative Council elections, Mr Lee explained the criteria used for evaluating candidates.

He said: “In regard to the assessment and validation of whether a candidate satisfies the requirements, basically there are two criteria.

“One is to assess whether he truly upholds the Basic Law. The other is to assess whether he truly bears allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

“We will consider individual cases on their own merits, taking into consideration all the factors and information that are available at hand.”