Nabila Massrali, EU spokesperson for foreign affairs and security policy, said on March 5 that the EU calls on the Chinese Communist Party to carefully consider any decision to reform Hong Kong‘s electoral system and the political and economic impact it would have, as it would undermine Hong Kong’s fundamental freedoms, political pluralism and democratic principles. She noted that the EU stands ready to take appropriate measures.
Through a statement, the EU said, “On March 4, the National People’s Congress of the Communist Party of China announced that it will consider changes to the electoral system of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. A decision is expected to be made on March 11. If adopted, this reform will have a potentially far-reaching negative impact on democratic principles and elected representatives in Hong Kong. It would also run counter to previous electoral reforms in Hong Kong and run counter to the commitment in Articles 45 and 68 of the Basic Law to implement universal suffrage in the elections of the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council.”
The statement said, “The EU calls on the Beijing authorities to carefully consider the political and economic implications of any decision to reform Hong Kong’s electoral system, which would undermine fundamental freedoms, political pluralism and democratic principles. As agreed by the EU Foreign Ministers, the EU stands ready to take additional measures in response to any further serious deterioration of political freedoms and human rights in Hong Kong, which would be in violation of China’s domestic and international obligations.”
At the opening of the fourth session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) on May 5, Chinese NPC Vice Chairman Wang Chen made a statement on the “Draft Decision on Improving the Electoral System of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region”, proposing to improve Hong Kong’s electoral system, mainly the method for selecting the Chief Executive and the method for forming the Legislative Council, to ensure that “patriots rule Hong Kong”. Wang Chen said, to improve the electoral system in Hong Kong, the general idea is “to restructure and empower the Election Committee of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as the core of the overall system design”, including optimizing the size, composition and method of election of the Election Committee; in addition to continue to elect the Chief Executive, to give the Election Committee to elect a larger proportion of Legislative Council members, and In addition to continuing the election of the Chief Executive, the EAC should be given the function of directly participating in the nomination of candidates for election to the Legislative Council, etc.
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