Beijing’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office has added fuel to a heated debate over a core principle of governance in the former British colony, arguing that it is wrong to say that the city is ruled through a system based on the separation of powers.

The government and pro-democracy politicians have been engaged in a war of words over the issue after Chief Executive Carrie Lam and Hong Kong’s secretary for education denied the idea – a fundamental tenet of Western political philosophy since the 18th century – in a debate over a high-school liberal studies textbook.

The Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, Beijing’s top agency overseeing the city’s affairs,

issued a statement late Monday night saying it must correct the false notion of the existence of the separation of powers in Hong Kong.

The high degree of autonomy enjoyed by Hong Kong, including executive, legislative and judicial power, was granted by the central government, and the exercise of that power would be limited and supervised by the central government, a spokesperson for the office said. For instance, laws passed by the legislature must be registered with the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, and courts must follow its interpretations.

“The constitutional status of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region determined that its political system is not similar to that of a sovereign country, and it cannot implement separation of powers established on the bases of full power of a sovereign country. Separation of powers never existed in Hong Kong,” the spokesperson said.

The chief executive has a leading and core role in the government as head of the region who is responsible to the central government, the spokesperson said. The “executive-led system with the chief executive as the core” is one of the main characteristics of Hong Kong’s political system in accordance with the Basic Law.

While the executive and legislative branches act as check and balance for each other, the main focus is that they work together, the spokesperson said. Although the courts exercise independent judicial power, they have to follow the Chinese constitution and the Basic Law.

Hong Kong’s system cannot entirely follow the Western model, and that it would not be appropriate to have separation of powers, the spokesperson said, citing remarks by former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping made in April 1987.

Those who advocate for separation of powers in Hong Kong are trying to expand legislative and judicial power in order to undermine the authority of the chief executive and the government, and to reject the legitimacy of the central government’s comprehensive jurisdiction over Hong Kong, the spokesperson said.

“This is the crucial point. We must make clarifications, bring order out of chaos, and right the wrong,” the spokesperson said.

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