China’s central government may be willing to ignore international protests over its crackdown on Hong Kong, as it is reportedly weighing in on additional actions to harden the city, an analyst told CNBC on Monday.
Last week, media outlets such as Reuters and the South China Morning Post reported that Beijing could consider changes to Hong Kong’s electoral system that could limit pro-democracy politicians and prevent them from running in local elections.
The reports came when Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council of China, said in a statement in Mandarin that Hong Kong should be governed by people who do not violate the nor do they challenge the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, according to a CNBC translation.
Xia said one of the reasons Hong Kong saw an anti-Chinese movement was because the city’s major institutions were not completely run by patriots. One way to ensure that only the most loyal in China rule Hong Kong is to improve the city’s electoral system by closing relevant legal loopholes, he added.
This December 19, 2017 image shows the Chinese (top) and Hong Kong flags hoisted in Hong Kong.
Anthony Wallace | AFP | Getty Images
John Marrett, a senior analyst at risk consulting firm The Economist Intelligence Unit, said Beijing has already made several moves to curb opposition in Hong Kong.
“It’s remarkable that they go so far in proposing these electoral reforms, the details of which we haven’t seen yet,” he told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Monday.
“But he does say something about his fears of a subsequent resurgence of political instability, social unrest in the city and already speaks of his lack of concern over international protest over Hong Kong,” he added.
Hong Kong is a former British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997. The city is governed by the principle of a “country, two systems” that gives it greater autonomy than other cities in mainland China, including electoral rights. limited.
The Hong Kong government has banned at least 12 pro-democracy candidates from running in the city’s legislative elections, which were postponed for a year until September 2021. The government cited the pandemic as the reason for the delay.
In addition, four opposition lawmakers were removed from the Hong Kong Legislative Council in November last year, prompting others to resign in protest, Reuters reported.