A group of overseas Hong Kong people held a press conference on the 17th to announce that they will initiate the establishment of a “Hong Kong Shadow Parliament” (Hong Kong Shadow Parliament) initiative. The secretariat of the parliament said that the public consultation plan will be carried out immediately, and will collect opinions from Hong Kong people all over the world through online questionnaires, hoping to establish a democratic participation mechanism including voting for representatives in the future, so that all Hong Kong people can express their real demands.
File photo of a night scene in Hong Kong
Overseas Hong Kong people have reportedly announced that they will set up a “shadow parliament in Hong Kong.” Overseas Hong Kong people have announced that they will set up a “shadow parliament in Hong Kong,” said Cheng Man-kit, a former employee of the British Consulate General in Hong Kong, who revealed as early as July that Hong Kong pro-democracy activists were discussing preparations for a shadow parliament in Hong Kong. On the 17th, he hosted a press conference as the initiator and secretariat member of the shadow parliament.
According to Cheng, with the rapid erosion of Hong Kong’s civil and political rights, Hong Kong urgently needs a more credible democratic mechanism to reflect public opinion. Therefore, the initiative of the Hong Kong Shadow Parliament is to respond to the current political situation and give Hong Kong people an alternative to continue to speak out. He stressed that the Shadow Parliament will be a civil society group that will include overseas and Hong Kong and Chinese citizens, and does not intend to mimic or establish any governmental functions, but rather to provide a communication platform and a democratic mechanism.
According to the Secretariat, the Shadow Parliament hopes to enable Hong Kong people to vote for their representatives, and empower overseas Hong Kong people to strengthen their connection with local Hong Kong people. In addition, the shadow parliament will also carry out the tandem work of international fronts to advocate for the democratization of Hong Kong.
We will actively participate in international bodies, and although the main actors in international bodies are still mainly member states, in the future we can expect more NGOs to play a more important role, especially in Hong Kong, because the Hong Kong government is no longer able to represent Hong Kong people exclusively,” Cheng said. “He said that the Shadow Parliament has already registered as a legal group in the United States, and next expects to register in the United Kingdom as well.
Zheng Wenjie also explained that the secretariat, including him, at this stage there are about five core members, is responsible for the preparation of the shadow parliament working group. After the first Shadow Parliament is elected, it will carry the mandate of the Hong Kong people to discuss and decide the details of the operation of the Shadow Parliament. The secretariat will be a permanent one, impartial and neutral.
According to the report, in order to draft the provisional constitution and election of the shadow council, the secretariat announced a public consultation with all Hong Kong people through the official website. Jason, a member of the Secretariat, said that Hong Kong people from home and abroad are welcome to read the public consultation document online and fill in their comments. How do you identify yourself? And what kind of electoral system should be adopted, such as single or multiple constituency system? And so on.
As for the procedures and timetable after the public consultation, Cheng explained that the Secretariat will consolidate the opinions and hand them over to an academic committee composed of legal scholars and political scientists for research and collation, writing a study report, and formulating the provisional constitution of the shadow parliament accordingly. Thereafter, the Secretariat will also hold a meeting to discuss with academics, lawyers and Internet security experts on how to establish an election mechanism to ensure that Hong Kong people can vote safely and use technology to help democratize Hong Kong.
During the press conference, some media asked whether they expected a backlash from the Chinese Communist authorities. Cheng said frankly that he could foresee that the shadow parliament would be stigmatized by the Chinese Communist Party or the Hong Kong authorities. Back in July, he was labeled “Hong Kong independence” for merely mentioning the ambiguous concept of the shadow council, and was accused of violating national security laws and wanted by the Hong Kong government. This, however, shows that the concept of a shadow parliament is a valid one, and that the Chinese Communist Party may be worried and afraid of it.
Free Asia said that according to Cheng’s explanation, the shadow parliament will welcome and include all political spectrums, including voices advocating for Hong Kong’s independence, whether such voices are in the majority or minority. Based on the Secretariat’s position, it is all about trying to protect those voices, and this is showing the world that Hong Kong people are determined to defend democracy. Cheng called on the Chinese government to respect the democratic institutions of Hong Kong people. He stressed that “in reality, the shadow parliament is not standing against the interests of China or the Hong Kong authorities, but is asking them to meet the expectations of the people. If you cannot meet them, we will build our democracy ourselves.
Recent Comments