No mention of “one country, two systems” in CPPCC report
China’s National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) opened its session on Thursday (March 4), with CPPCC Chairman Wang Yang reading out a report on the work of the CPPCC, but “one country, two systems” was nowhere to be found in the section on Hong Kong and Macau. In addition, the report mentioned that “patriots rule Hong Kong”, but did not specifically mention the rectification of the Hong Kong electoral system. However, the outside world believes that the NPC meeting later will deal with related issues, and the 47 pro-democracy primary candidates in Hong Kong hastily charged with “conspiracy to subvert state power”, is to force the election reform to pave the way. (By Wen Haixin/Lu Xi)
China’s National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and National People’s Congress (NPC) held two consecutive days in Beijing starting Thursday, with CPPCC Chairman Wang Yang reading the work report of the CPPCC Standing Committee on the first day of the meeting. The work report is considered the “shortest ever”, only about 40 minutes in length. Compared with last year, this year’s report in Hong Kong and Macao part of the length of a large reduction, only about 100 words.
“One country, two systems” and no trace of analysis: the central government to fully implement the governance of Hong Kong to weaken the two systems
In the past, from 2014 to last year, the work of the report in Hong Kong and Macao part have mentioned “one country, two systems”, for example, last year’s report refers to “closely around the promotion of ‘one country, two systems’ to carry out a stable and far-reaching” However, in this year’s report, “one country, two systems” has disappeared without a trace; it has become “firmly support the principle of patriots ruling Hong Kong”. In addition, “Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong” and “a high degree of autonomy” have disappeared from the report for the second consecutive year.
Hong Kong current affairs commentator Lam Wo-li told the station that the report reflects the new normal of the Chinese Communist Party‘s policy towards Hong Kong, which is to fully govern Hong Kong and weaken the possibility of two systems.
Lin He Li said: This Time it is clear that the focus on one country, the central government for the full governance of Hong Kong. Two systems means that Hong Kong people can participate in elections or free discussion to express their views less and less space, (the central government) weaken the two systems, the channels and possibilities for Hong Kong people to participate in politics.
Hong Kong current affairs commentator Liu Ruishao said in an interview with this station, since 2003, 500,000 Hong Kong people took to the streets to oppose the legislation of Article 23 of the Basic Law, Beijing officials in 2004, has begun to “one country, two systems”, “a high degree of autonomy” and “Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong” with new interpretations. These include new expressions such as “one country before two systems”, “one country above two systems”, “a high degree of autonomy is not absolute autonomy”, and “Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong is patriots ruling Hong Kong”. “This reflects Beijing’s “firm governance” mentality, but it has not been enforced strongly. // The turning point is the Fourth Plenary Session of the Central Committee in 2019, after the outbreak of the “anti-China” movement in Hong Kong, which stressed the need to “firmly grasp” the overall governance of Hong Kong, which Beijing is now about to fully implement.
Liu Ruishao said: last year (in the report), “Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong” is no longer, that is to say, he believes that in fact, it should be governed by Beijing, but Beijing in the past is an indirect governance of Hong Kong. Today, he thinks Beijing should be in charge, so “Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong” is no longer mentioned, and now “one country, two systems” is no longer there. This is the “enhanced and distorted version” of their past thinking.
He said that in order to analyze the current approach of Beijing in dealing with the Hong Kong issue, it must be linked to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China to be held next year. He said that those in power in Beijing now see Hong Kong as a “destabilizing factor” for the 20th Communist Party Congress and fear that political opponents will use the Hong Kong issue to attack him.
Liu Ruishao said: “Will Hong Kong be used to reverse the “export to domestic sales”, to oppose the current domestic regime? Originally, none of us could see it, but he thought there was. So under this “disorder of thinking”, he has many enemies, and these enemies, he thinks, are using Hong Kong to oppose him in the country. The civil society, such as human rights lawyers, domestic human rights incidents, they believe that sometimes they will use Hong Kong to project back to the country, which also involves the domestic political or regime security.
The reporter found that the CPPCC work report mentioned that the CPPCC Standing Committee has made comprehensive use of “cloud diplomacy” and private exchanges to carry out foreign relations, and in response to the U.S. “so-called bills related to Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong, etc., and anti-China bills related to the Epidemic and anti-China fallacies of individual politicians, by issuing statements, organizing talks and members of the committee to accept In response to the U.S. “so-called bills related to Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong, anti-China bills related to epidemics and anti-China fallacies of individual politicians, we have issued statements, organized talks and interviews with members to sternly refute them.
On the work plan for the coming year, the report said to strengthen “solidarity and friendship with compatriots in Hong Kong and Macao, Taiwan and overseas Chinese, strengthen patriotic Education for young people in Hong Kong and Macao, and promote cross-strait economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation”. Immediately after the more said to “organize the 110th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution, to promote the spirit of the Xinhai Revolution, unite the Chinese sons and daughters at Home and abroad to promote the great cause of the unification of the motherland, the great cause of national rejuvenation.”
Did not talk about the Hong Kong election is expected to deal with the NPC meeting
Although this work report did not talk about the Hong Kong elections, but the outside world is expected to open immediately after the NPC meeting will have “processing. It is understood that the two vice chairmen of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Zhang Qingli and Xia Baolong, who is also the director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, may meet with Hong Kong members of the CPPCC in the auditorium of the CPPCC on Thursday evening, is expected to explain the Central Government’s decision to improve the electoral system in Hong Kong. Based on the experience of the National People’s Congress and the National Security Law of Hong Kong last year, Xia Baolong and Zhang Qingli also met with the Hong Kong CPPCC on the night before the opening of the NPC session to brief the content of the enactment of the National Security Law of Hong Kong.
On the 22nd of last month, Xia Baolong talked about taking the lead in setting the tone for the principle of “patriots ruling Hong Kong” and said that the most crucial and urgent thing was to improve the relevant system to ensure that the power of governance in Hong Kong was “firmly in the hands of those who love the country and love Hong Kong”. 6 days later, he went south to Shenzhen again to discuss the improvement of the The government’s electoral system and the implementation of “patriots ruling Hong Kong”, two days in a row to listen to the views of the Hong Kong pro-establishment.
At this year’s two sessions, Hong Kong’s pro-establishment camp has defended “patriots ruling Hong Kong”. Former Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, who is attending the National People’s Congress in Beijing, was interviewed by Radio Television Hong Kong before the meeting on Thursday, stressing that the principle and goal of patriots ruling Hong Kong is “completely natural”.
47 pro-democracy activists detained in Beijing to “maintain stability” for electoral reform
Meanwhile, the case of 47 pro-democracy activists charged with “conspiracy to subvert state power” for their participation in last year’s primary election continues to be heard in a “marathon” manner.
According to Lam Wo-li’s analysis, the incident is a precursor to the authorities’ hard push for reform of the electoral system. Some voices say that Chief Executive Carrie Lam is trying to make a mark before the two sessions to show that she has a way to deal with the opposition, but another possibility is to give the pro-democracy camp a “downward spiral”. Because the electoral reform system will shake the whole “one country, two systems”, the central government can not let the opposition to organize large-scale action against the central government to rectify the electoral system.
Lin He Li said: the electoral change system will shake the entire “one country, two systems”, the weight of the “one country, two systems” is weakened to the core, there must be a lot of people opposed. But before the announcement, a large number of opposition figures were arrested, and the central government wanted to give a warning to this class of opposition not to cause trouble.
She believes that the reason behind the case is to maintain stability and to “remove the instability” for the announcement of Hong Kong’s electoral reform plan during the two sessions.
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