It should be acknowledged that Hong Kong‘s Chief Executive Carrie Lam was outspoken in expressing Beijing‘s thoughts, and on Monday the depressed chief executive praised Beijing for ordering changes to Hong Kong’s electoral laws to ensure that only “patriots rule Hong Kong” and denied criticism that the move was merely an attempt to exclude dissidents and get the opposition out of the race altogether.
She admitted in no uncertain terms that the electoral reform is “central government-led and SAR-supported”, excluding the possibility of consultation with the public. Analysts point out that both the Beijing authorities and the Hong Kong government are probably most afraid of public opinion. Now, after Beijing imposed the Hong Kong version of the National Security Law on Hong Kong, they can recklessly amend the Hong Kong election law in the name of security, in the name of opposing collusion with foreigners, and in the name of opposing secession. It does not even rule out amending the ‘Basic Law’ that laid down Hong Kong’s one country, two systems.
AFP reports that the main point of this bill, which is being “considered” at the National People’s Congress of China, is that the authorities will have veto power over all candidates running in the elections. There is no doubt that the vote by show of hands is a mechanical act in this meeting of the NPC, known as a rubber stamp, and the bill should be passed on Thursday.
The report quoted critics as pointing out that this amendment has undoubtedly sounded the death knell of Hong Kong’s democratic electoral system. With this amendment, the authorities will reduce the number of democratic candidates to a minimum or even zero, leaving the establishment and Beijing’s “proxies” – the “patriots” in Beijing’s eyes – in full control of Hong Kong, where the right to vote is already limited.
In just one year, the Pearl of the Orient has become increasingly gray under Beijing’s crackdown, and the people’s demand for democracy has become “sabotage by separatist forces” in the eyes of senior Communist Party official Han Zheng, who said during the two sessions that “no country will tolerate sabotage by separatist forces. “. Some democrats in Hong Kong retorted that what they have been doing for two years is nothing more than the basic rights granted by the Basic Law: demonstrating against the encroachment of the Basic Law and demanding the early realization of the goal of universal suffrage, and now that the authorities have enacted a Hong Kong version of the National Security Law to liquidate the activities of the democrats, it is not the democrats who are destroying the peace and prosperity of Hong Kong, but the authorities who do not allow people to fight for their legitimate rights.
Han said he wanted to “ensure that Hong Kong people, mainly patriots, rule Hong Kong,” which, in the eyes of the opposition, means purging the pro-democracy camp, mainly pan-democrats, and letting pro-Beijing people rule Hong Kong. According to Han, this is to “ensure that Hong Kong’s ‘one country, two systems’ is always moving in the right direction”. Opponents argue that Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” has been seriously undermined by Beijing, that Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy has been seriously eroded, that Hong Kong’s independent legal status is on the rocks, and that freedom of speech in Hong Kong is now grounds for criminalization. Beijing can legislate at will and slaughter at will.
Carrie Lam struggled to argue that the purpose of the amendment was not to benefit certain people, but to allow “patriots to rule Hong Kong”, and that the patriots in Beijing’s eyes are those who dare not criticize them or submit to their authority, judging from the fact that the Hong Kong authorities have been sending democrats to court one after another for months. In a press conference, Carrie Lam said Beijing’s decision was timely, necessary, legal and constitutional, with the Beijing-appointed chief executive of Hong Kong saying, “The power of the central government’s decision cannot be questioned.”
When Hong Kong returned to China from Britain in 1997, Beijing promised that Hong Kong would enjoy autonomy and freedom not enjoyed by mainland China until 2047, with a Legislative Council with some members elected by universal suffrage. In the last two years, a growing number of voices have risen to expose Beijing’s continued erosion of the freedoms of speech and law enjoyed by Hong Kong people, culminating in the anti-China campaign, a huge democratic mobilization that has rocked Hong Kong for more than six months.
However, after initially agreeing to withdraw the amendment, Beijing passed a Hong Kong version of the National Security Law in the middle of last year, retaliating against Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement with charges of secession, collusion with foreign powers, and incitement to subversion. So far this year, more than 50 leading pro-democracy figures have been prosecuted for incitement, and youth leaders such as Wong Chi-fung and Chow Ting have been sent to prison to serve their sentences. The legislative election that was supposed to be held last September was also postponed under the pretext of Epidemic prevention, as polls showed that the pro-democracy camp would win more than half of the seats in the election.
It is not enough to suppress, but at the same Time, Beijing wants to “establish long-term peace and security”, which is the real purpose of this amendment to Hong Kong’s election law, to get the democrats out of the race and let “patriots rule Hong Kong”. In fact, no matter how Lin Zheng explains, it is widely believed that the NPC’s amendment to Hong Kong’s election law is intended to shrink the democratic camp’s room to run for office. The former chairwoman of the Democratic Party, Emily Lau, told the media that the vast majority of Hong Kong people would feel that this is a retrograde step in democracy, erasing the democratic process in Hong Kong. She believes that increasing the size of the Election Committee and empowering it to elect legislators is distorting the election, and she stressed that public opinion representatives must be elected through the general election process.
Mrs. Lam tried to evade the fact that the NPC’s amendment was coming against the democratic camp in Hong Kong, saying that she is not dealing with the democratic camp at the moment, but with people who are not patriotic and love Hong Kong, undermine the prosperity of Hong Kong, challenge the authority of the central government, and collude with foreign forces to sanction the country and Hong Kong.
Carrie Lam was more forthright than Beijing’s top officials in expressing Beijing’s thoughts on what turned out to be a long-planned amendment to fix, marginalize and suppress those who dare to challenge Beijing’s authority, and to smear popular efforts to convey Hong Kong’s public opinion to the international community as collusion with foreign powers.
Observers believe that Beijing’s revision of Hong Kong’s electoral laws is tantamount to completely extinguishing Hong Kong people’s expectations of universal suffrage as promised by the Basic Law. Reforming Hong Kong’s electoral system and destroying opposition political hopes, according to a New York Times analysis. Yet Carrie Lam is still sowing false hope: she claims that Hong Kong’s ultimate goal is still to implement universal suffrage for the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council. Who will believe it?
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