Chief Executive John Lee today welcomed and expressed support for the white paper on "The Taiwan Question & China's Reunification in the New Era" published by the central government.

In a statement, Mr Lee said the white paper righteously reiterates to the world the fact that Taiwan is part of China and demonstrates the central authorities' firm stance and policy on materialising the reunification of the motherland.

Citing historical developments and jurisprudence, the detailed paper states that the one-China policy is a universal consensus of the international community and an indisputable and unalterable fact as reflected in the relevant resolution passed by the United Nations General Assembly.

According to the white paper, “Peaceful reunification and 'one country, two systems' are our basic principles for resolving the Taiwan question and the best approach to realising national reunification. Embodying the Chinese wisdom - we thrive by embracing each other - they take full account of Taiwan's realities and are conducive to long-term stability in Taiwan after reunification.”

Mr Lee noted that the position paper rightly points out that some political forces in Taiwan have long been purposefully misinterpreting and smearing "one country, two systems" and advocating "Taiwan independence".

He stressed that "one country, two systems" has proven to be a successful national policy and its successful implementation in Hong Kong is widely recognised.

Being the best institutional guarantee for Hong Kong, "one country, two systems" is an important cornerstone for maintaining the city's long-term prosperity and stability and a successful national policy that provides the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region with its unique edge of having close connections with the world and strong support from the motherland.

The thorough and precise implementation of the "one country, two systems" principle also opens up broader prospects for the development of Hong Kong, he emphasised.

The Chief Executive said: “With the institutional safeguard of the 'one country, two systems' principle, the appropriate improvements made as well as the series of measures taken by the central government which addressed both the symptoms and root causes of the unrest while upholding the 'one country, two systems' principle, Hong Kong rode out the destruction and threats brought by riots and 'Hong Kong independence' fuelled by external forces some three years ago.”

Now that Hong Kong has moved from disarray to good governance, it is advancing to a new stage of becoming more prosperous, Mr Lee pointed out.

“This not only demonstrates the importance of the 'one country, two systems' principle in safeguarding the fundamental interests of Hong Kong, but also proves that the more firmly the 'one country' principle is upheld, the greater the strength of the 'two systems' that will be unleashed for the development of Hong Kong.”

Mr Lee reiterated that the Hong Kong SAR Government resolutely safeguards China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity and safeguards the one-China principle.

The Hong Kong SAR Government resolutely opposes any interference by external forces in the internal affairs of China and fully supports and facilitates the necessary measures by the central government, he added.

Chief Secretary Chan Kwok-ki, Financial Secretary Paul Chan, Secretary for Justice Paul Lam, Secretary for Security Tang Ping-keung and Secretary for Constitutional & Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang also issued statements to express support for the white paper.