admin
Guo Shaochun
Chinese
Ambassador
China’s National People’s Congress, the country’s top legislature, adopted a decision on improving the electoral system of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on March 11.
Both surprisingly and unsurprisingly, China’s domestic affairs once again caught the attention of some Western politicians and their media mouthpieces.
Lies and uninformed guesswork have been doing rounds in some circles.
But there is no way you can hide the elephant in the room – the peace, prosperity and rule of law in Hong Kong needs a stronger electoral system to withstand the constant foreign interference.
Imperatives for improvement
The electoral system of the Hong Kong SAR, which includes the methods for the selection of the chief executive and for the formation of the Legislative Council, is an important part of the political structure of the Hong Kong SAR.
In recent years, especially after the turbulence over the amendment bill in 2019, anti-China, destabilising forces and radical localists in Hong Kong have openly called for “Hong Kong independence”.
They used the electoral platforms of the Hong Kong SAR and the deliberation platforms of the Legislative Council and the district councils or their position as public servants to blatantly carry out anti-China and destabilising activities.
They resorted to every possible means to paralyse the functioning of the Legislative Council and obstruct the law-based administration of the SAR government.
They master-minded and perpetrated the so-called “primary election”, in an attempt to obtain a majority in the Legislative Council so that they could step further to grab the power to administer Hong Kong.
Some foreign countries and external forces, by way of their own legislative bills or administrative means and through their consular agencies and NGOs in the Hong Kong SAR and other channels, blatantly meddled with Hong Kong affairs.
They also grossly imposed so-called “sanctions” on the relevant Chinese personnel and flagrantly emboldened and covered those anti-China, destabilising forces in Hong Kong.
These activities seriously jeopardised the constitutional order and the order of rule of law in the Hong Kong SAR.
They posed a grave challenge to the authority of the Constitution, the Basic Law and the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong SAR.
Such activities put China’s national sovereignty, security and development interests into serious jeopardy and severely disrupted social stability of the Hong Kong SAR.
They must be resolutely opposed, and forceful measures must be taken to prevent and defuse risks arising there-from.
The rioting and turbulence that occurred in the Hong Kong society reveals that the existing electoral system in the Hong Kong SAR has clear loopholes and deficiencies, which the anti-China, destabilising elements jumped on to take into their hands the power to administer the SAR.
To remedy the situation, it is important to take necessary steps to improve the electoral system and remove existing institutional deficiencies and risks to ensure the administration of Hong Kong by Hong Kong people with patriots as the main body. This in turn will ensure effective and law-based administration in the SAR and keep the implementation of One Country, Two Systems always on the right track.
Steps taken
According to the decision, the NPC Standing Committee will amend two annexes to the HKSAR Basic Law, which govern the selection method of the HKSAR chief executive and the formation method of the Legislative Council (LegCo), respectively. To become more “broadly representative, suited to the HKSAR’s realities, and representative of the overall interests of its society,” the Election Committee of the HKSAR will be reformed in its size, composition and formation method, and will be given more power.
The election committee, expanded to 1 500 members from 1 200, shall be responsible for electing the Chief Executive designate and part of the members of the LegCo, as well as for nominating candidates for the Chief Executive and LegCo members, said the decision.
The LegCo shall be composed of 90 members in each term.
Members of the LegCo shall include members returned by the Election Committee, those returned by functional constituencies, and those by geographical constituencies through direct elections, according to the decision.
A candidate qualification review committee of the HKSAR will be set up to vet and confirm the qualifications of candidates for the Election Committee members, the Chief Executive, and the LegCo members.
The HKSAR is required to improve the system and mechanisms related to qualification review, amend local laws in accordance with the decision and the amended Basic Law annexes, and organise and regulate election activities accordingly.
Foreign interference must stop
The National People’s Congress’ move to improve Hong Kong’s electoral system at the national level is a constitutional power and responsibility of the NPC, which will help advance the One Country, Two Systems and maintain long-term stability in Hong Kong, and is totally constitutional, lawful and justified.
Improving Hong Kong’s electoral system is to remedy the drawbacks of the existing electoral system, which will guarantee a better realisation of democratic rights and freedom for Hong Kong residents.
Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China.
Hong Kong’s electoral system of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is China’s local electoral system.
How it is designed, developed and improved is entirely China’s internal affair where there’s no place for other country to interfere.
We urge the relevant parties to strictly observe international law and basic norms governing international relations, and stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs and China’s internal affairs in any way.
Guo Shaochun is the Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe.
Abel Ndooka
Online Reporter