Ex-Hong Kong governor Patten says independence call a 'terrible mistake'

A Chinese national flag and a Hong Kong flag fly outside the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, China November 7, 2016. REUTERS/Bobby Yip

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A growing independence campaign in Hong Kong is a terrible mistake that undermines the Chinese-ruled city's push for democracy and serves merely to provoke Beijing, Chris Patten, the last governor of the former British colony, said on Friday.

Speaking after a speech to a packed Foreign Correspondents' Club, Patten said that while democratic development in Hong Kong had been disappointingly slow, independence was not the answer.