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Veteran actor Eric Tsang says HK people should be grateful to China as 25th anniversary of handover approaches

Malay Mail
Malay Mail

KUALA LUMPUR, June 30 — As Hong Kong prepares to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its return to China on Friday, actor Eric Tsang said its people should be grateful to China.

The 69-year-old Tsang, who has been general manager of TVB since last year, said his return to the station has allowed more people to get to know the country again.

"The first time I went abroad after Hong Kong's return, I was finally able to write the word China on the departure form. My tears started flowing right at that moment."

He also recalled the feeling he had when issuing a joint statement to support the National Security Law for Hong Kong, noting that "it was like seeing a light in the dark".

In an interview with Global Times, Tsang said when he first heard the national anthem and raised their own national flag, he was very moved.

"The return was a big change for us. Before the return, whenever we went abroad, we had to fill in Hong Kong as our nationality."

"But if the word Hong Kong was not followed by the word UK, people would ask is Hong Kong a nationality?"

"When we filled in UK, British people would say, are you really British?"

He added it was not a good feeling as they have black eyes and yellow skin and they felt like they were orphans.

Tsang was also asked about his support for the controversial national security law and why he chose to do so.

He said the regulations were needed to stop the violence and the law was like a light in the dark.

The law was imposed by Beijing in response to months of pro-democracy protests in 2019.