HONG KONG (AP) – Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam gave clear support on Tuesday to electoral reforms that are likely to further exclude opposition voices and consolidate Beijing’s control over the semi-autonomous policy of the Chinese city.
Her comments came a day after a senior Beijing official signaled that major changes would come to ensure that Hong Kong is ruled by “patriots”, a sign that China intends to no longer tolerate dissident voices, 23 years after the former British colony was handed over to Chinese dominion with the promise that it could maintain its own rights and freedoms for 50 years.
After China’s imposition of a comprehensive national security law in the city last year, authorities moved to expel members of the city’s Legislative Council deemed insufficiently loyal and arrested veteran opposition leaders on charges that included illegal assembly and collusion with forces foreign. Government critics and Western governments accuse Beijing of taking back its word and effectively ending the “one country, two systems” structure to govern the dynamic Asian financial center.
Lam said political conflicts and unrest in the city, including anti-government protests in 2019, as well as protests in 2014, showed that there have always been some people who are “quite hostile” to central authorities in China.
“I can understand that the central authorities are very concerned, they don’t want the situation to deteriorate further in such a way that ‘one country, two systems’ cannot be implemented,” Lam said at a regular news conference.
The Hong Kong government also said on Tuesday that it plans to require district councilors – many of whom are directly elected by their constituents and tend to be more politically independent – to swear allegiance to Hong Kong as a special region of China. Currently, only the chief executive, senior officials, members of the executive board, legislators and judges are required to take an oath of office.
Those who swear an oath improperly or who fail to comply with the city’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, will be disqualified and prevented from running for five years, according to China’s Secretary for Constitutional and Interior Affairs, Erick Tsang.
Opposition figures swept elections for the district council after the 2019 protests, and Beijing authorities have since sought to prevent them from exercising influence over other aspects of the political system.
The move comes after an oath-taking controversy in 2016, in which six pro-democracy lawmakers were expelled from the legislature after court rulings that they had not sworn allegiance properly because they misjudged, added words or read the oath extremely slowly .
The Hong Kong legislature is expected to deliberate on the draft legal amendments on March 17.
On Monday, Xia Baolong, director of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, said that Hong Kong could only be governed by “patriots”, which excludes those who lobby other countries for foreign sanctions and “troublemakers”.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, added to these statements on Tuesday, saying that “people in important positions, holding important powers and assuming important administrative responsibilities must be staunch patriots. It is a matter of course. “
Electoral changes are expected to be discussed and possibly approved at next month’s National People’s Congress meeting, the Chinese stamp legislature and its advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
They will likely take the form of a redistribution of votes on the 1,200-member electoral commission that selects the Hong Kong chief executive, subject to Beijing’s veto. The commission is made up of electoral blocks designed to represent Hong Kong’s various economic, educational and social sectors, along with its Beijing-dominated political institutions. The only exception are the 117 commission members chosen from the city’s 458 local councilors.
With all the other members of the commission considered firmly under Beijing’s control, speculation has increased that the 117 votes of the district council will be transferred to another bloc, possibly that of the Hong Kong representatives at the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, ensuring that they will follow Beijing guidelines.
It is not yet clear whether Lam, who is deeply unpopular with the people of Hong Kong, will seek a second five-year term in next year’s vote.
Another possibility is that China will close what it calls “loopholes” in the election of members of the Legislative Council, now entirely dominated by pro-Beijing lawmakers since opposition MPs resigned en masse last year after four were expelled for being insufficiently loyal to the government. Lam postponed the council elections last year, citing concerns about COVID-19, in a move seen as planned to prevent an opposition victory.
Of the 70 board members, half are elected directly from geographic constituencies, while the rest are from trade and other special interest groups. The changes may include preventing district councilors from also sitting on the body or simply increasing the requirements for loyalty and patriotism above the already rigid levels at which they are now established.