HONG KONG (AP) – Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam on Tuesday gave clear support to electoral reforms that are likely to further exclude opposition voices and consolidate Beijing’s control over city politics. semi-autonomous Chinese.
His comments came a day after a senior Beijing official noted that major changes would come to ensure Hong Kong was run by “patriots”, a signal that China intends to stop tolerating dissenting voices, 23 years after the former British colony was handed over to The Chinese government with the promise that it could maintain its own rights and freedoms for 50 years.
Following China’s imposition of a powerful national security law on the city last year, authorities have decided to expel members of the city’s Legislative Council deemed insufficiently loyal and have completed veteran opposition leaders with charges such as illegal meeting and collusion with foreign forces. Government critics and Western governments accuse Beijing of stepping back in its word and effectively ending the “one country, two systems” framework to govern the dynamic Asian financial center.
Lam said political conflicts and riots in the city, including anti-government protests in 2019 and protests in 2014, showed that there were always some people “quite hostile” to China’s central authorities.
“I can understand that the central authorities are very concerned, they do not want the situation to deteriorate further so that” one country, two systems “cannot be implemented,” Lam said in a regular briefing.
The Hong Kong government also said on Tuesday that it plans to demand that district councilors (many of whom are directly elected by their constituents and tend to be more politically independent) pledge to retain Hong Kong as a special region of China. Currently, only the chief executive, senior officials, members of the executive council, legislators and judges are required to take the oath of office.
According to the Secretary of Constitutional and Continental Affairs, Erick Tsang, those who take the oath incorrectly or who do not defend the mini-constitution of the city, the basic law, will be disqualified and will not be able to run for office for five years.
Opposition figures swept the district council elections after the 2019 protests, and since then Beijing authorities have tried to prevent them from exerting influence on other aspects of the political system.
The move comes after a controversy over the oath he took in 2016 that six pro-democracy lawmakers were ousted from the legislature after court rulings that had not faithfully promised their allegiance because they mispronounced words, added words or they read the oath very slowly.
The Hong Kong legislature is expected to deliberate on the draft legal amendments on March 17.
On Monday, Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, said Hong Kong could only be ruled by “patriots,” who exclude those who pressure other countries for foreign sanctions. and “cause of problems.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin added on Tuesday to these statements, saying that “people in important positions, who hold important powers and who assume important administrative responsibilities must be firm patriots. It is a matter of course “.
Electoral changes are expected to be discussed and possibly approved at next month’s meeting of the National People’s Congress, the Chinese rubber stamp legislature and its advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
They will likely take the form of a redistribution of votes in the 1,200-member election commission selected by Hong Kong’s chief executive, subject to Beijing’s veto. The commission is made up of voting blocs intended to represent the various economic, educational and social sectors of Hong Kong, along with its Beijing-dominated political institutions. The only exception is the 117 committee members drawn from the city’s 458 local district councilors.
With the rest of the committee members firmly considered under Beijing’s control, there has been growing speculation that the 117 votes of the district council will be transferred to another bloc, possibly that of Hong Kong representatives at the Political Consultative Conference. of the Chinese People, assuring that they will follow the Beijing guidelines. .
It is unclear whether Lam, who is deeply unpopular among the Hong Kong people, will seek a second five-year term in next year’s poll.
Another possibility is for China to close what it calls “loopholes” in the elections for members of the Legislative Council, now totally dominated by pro-Beijing lawmakers, since opposition MPs massively resigned last year after four were expelled for being insufficiently loyal to the government. . Lam postponed council elections last year, alleging concerns about COVID-19, to an extent considered primarily designed to prevent an opposition victory.
Of the 70 board members, half are elected directly from geographic constituencies, while the rest come from business groups and other special interests. The changes may include preventing district councilors from also following the body or simply raising the requirements of loyalty and patriotism above the already strict levels now set.