After implementing the “Hong Kong version of the National Security Law” in Hong Kong, the Chinese Communist Party disqualified four members of the Legislative Council in Hong Kong. Now, the Chinese Communist Party is attempting to introduce policies to suppress the pro-democracy camp’s influence on the Chief Executive election.
Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post reported on Dec. 22 that sources close to the matter disclosed that in order to weaken the influence of the pro-democracy camp in the 2022 CE election, the Chinese Communist Party plans to abolish 117 seats in the Election Committee, where district councilors nominate and vote for each other.
According to the report, all 36 Hong Kong deputies to the Chinese National People’s Congress are currently members of the EC. After the reform, the number of seats in the CPPCC will increase from 51 to nearly 200, meaning that most of the CPPCC members can become members of the EC.
According to the report, the Chinese Communist authorities want to reduce the chances of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp entering and dominating the Legislative Council in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, the Hong Kong pro-establishment camp is lobbying Beijing to withdraw the five “super district council” functional constituency seats, and the voter base of some functional constituencies may also be tightened.
In an interview with Radio Free Asia on the 22nd, Jianhua Zhong, director of the Center for Policy Studies at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, condemned the Chinese Communist authorities for not only failing to live up to the promises of the Basic Law, but for even further turning the clock back on history.
Zhong Jianhua said, “The 117 seats in the District Council account for almost 1/10th of the seats in the Chief Executive Election Committee, plus about 300 votes from the democratic camp in the professional and social service sectors, which is about 400 votes beyond the control of Beijing. Now Beijing is hoping to use this method (reform) to strengthen its manipulation of the election results, making the deception of the whole election more obvious.”
Zhong Jianhua stressed that Beijing’s approach will only make Hong Kong people distrust the election results even more; the CE’s credibility and political recognition will also drop.
“If the Chief Executive does not have enough political recognition, it is very difficult for him to lead the society. If you look at the situation that Carrie Lam is facing now, there is no way for her to calm down the strife in the society and convince the society of the decisions she made. This will make it very difficult for the government to make decisions.” Chung said that the Legislative Council, as an organ of public opinion, brings different opinions into the parliament and comes to a final decision through the process, so the parliamentary process is an important political process.
“If this organ of public opinion is completely controlled by (Beijing), and some voices representing the public are not heard, it is very easy for the government to make mistakes. If the whole system loses the trust of the public, various forms of resistance will only persist in different forms, which is not good for Beijing either.” Zhong Jianhua said.
The newspaper quoted a Hong Kong district councillor who requested anonymity as saying that the Chinese Communist Party and the Hong Kong government have consistently failed to facilitate meaningful political dialogue with Hong Kong people since last year’s anti-revision fiasco. He fears that major changes to Hong Kong’s electoral system will tear Hong Kong society apart even more.
He said, “Hong Kong people expect the political system to move forward. This approach will undoubtedly dash Hong Kong people’s expectations for democratic development, and the mutual trust between Beijing and Hong Kong people will be lost, making future political reform even more difficult. Only meaningful communication can maintain Hong Kong’s long-term prosperity and stability.”
After the National People’s Congress passed the “Hong Kong version of the National Security Law” on June 30 this year and implemented it in Hong Kong on the same day, the Chinese Communist Party used the law to arrest a large number of pro-democracy activists, causing many Hong Kong people to flee the city.
On November 11, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress decided to disqualify four members of the Legislative Council (DQ), including Yang Yueqiao of the Civic Party, Kwok Ka-ki, Kwok Wing-kong of the legal sector, and Leung Kit-cheong of the professional accountancy sector.
Members of the democratic camp held a press conference on the evening of the 11th, announcing that all the remaining 15 members of the democratic camp will submit their resignation letters on the 12th. Experts believe that the Chinese Communist Party has taken advantage of the confusion and uncertainty of the U.S. election to try to escape sanctions, trying to clean up all opposition voices in Hong Kong during this period, a bad practice.
On December 7, the U.S. announced a sanctions order against the 14 vice chairmen of the Chinese Communist Party’s National People’s Congress for violating human rights and undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy.
Recent Comments