Beijing, China | The Chinese regime on Friday justified the imposition of electoral reform in Hong Kong, presenting it as a second “punch” after the national security law that ended last year “chaos” in the former British colony.
China will make “no concessions” on its electoral reform project, a senior Communist regime official told reporters after criticism from Western capitals accusing Beijing of permanently strangling democracy in Hong Kong.
The bill, put on track Thursday by the Chinese parliament, would authorize an “electoral committee” submitted to Beijing to select candidates for legislative elections in the autonomous territory.
This device would allow China to rule out candidates favorable to the pro-democracy opposition, which largely won a poll at the level of district councilors at the end of 2019.
At a press conference, Zhang Xiaoming, a senior official in the Chinese government’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Bureau, justified this law by the “chaos” that he said gripped the financial metropolis during the huge protests against the pro-Beijing executive in 2019.
The bill, and the passage of a national security law last year that stifled dissent, is “a series of punches (…) intended to effectively stem the chaos” in Hong Kong said Mr. Zhang.
Rejecting the criticisms formulated by London, Brussels and Washington, he assured that Beijing would make no concessions in the face of foreign forces seeking to destabilize Hong Kong.
“It is a fight against the attempts to seize power, to subversion and to infiltrate. On these issues, we will not let go, ”he insisted.
Trying to reassure, he compared the reform project to “minimally invasive surgery”, this new operating technique which is based on the use of cameras and robots.
“Minimally invasive surgery is characterized by a small wound, deep penetration and rapid recovery,” Zhang said.
“We will always hear divergent voices” within Hong Kong institutions, he promised.
The next Hong Kong legislative elections, scheduled for September, could be postponed due to changes wanted by Beijing, hinted earlier this week the head of the Hong Kong executive, Carrie Lam.
This election had already been postponed for a year last September due to an epidemic.