Four weeks ago, on March 30, the 27th session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress of China unanimously adopted amendments to Annex I and Annex II to the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR).
Under the finalized reform plan, the Election Committee will be granted the power to send 40 representatives to the Legislative Council, which has been expanded from 70 to 90 seats. As to the remaining seats, 30 go to the trade-based functional constituencies, leaving the directly elected geographical constituencies with 20, down from 35. Aside from that, LegCo candidates must now secure nominations from each of the five sectors of the Election Committee, making it difficult for opposition candidates to run.
This reform puts in practice the “patriots only” move, which had been announced earlier in March, i.e., the fact that only patriots should administer Hong Kong.
The reforms have been criticized by many media and governments in the West, who see the changes as one step more toward “the loss of Hong Kong’s autonomy and the oppression of Hong Kongers”. However, when it comes to talking about China’s and Hong Kong’s affairs, many Western media get it all wrong, since, voluntarily or involuntarily, they keep building this narrative where “Hong Kong is being oppressed by China”, undermining China´s current position as the world’s soon-to-be number one economy, when the reality is much more complex than that.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said, in an open letter to the people of Hong Kong published on the front page of local newspapers on March 31, that “I firmly believe that by improving the electoral system and implementing ‘patriots administering Hong Kong’, the excessive politicization in society and the internal rift that has torn Hong Kong apart can be effectively mitigated, thereby enhancing the governance capability of the HKSAR.”
I think that these remarks are very accurate, in the sense that, what Hong Kong needs right now is not confrontation, but stability (the same applies to Hong Kong’s economy).
The reform is not going to terminate with the “one country, two systems” principle, but it will enhance it. The main effect that it is going to bring to Hong Kong is more stability. All the things that China has been doing these past two years, regarding the new reforms (such as the National Security Law last year), are aimed at bringing back peace to the special administrative region, since investors, and the economy in general, want stability. But not only them, also most citizens want and need stability in their daily lives, especially now that many people in Hong Kong are suffering not only the consequences from the 2019 riots, but also the economic consequences from the COVID-19 pandemic.
I do not think that these reforms are going to undermine the “one country, two systems” principle, because the main mistake that some people in Hong Kong make when talking about this principle is that they just focus on the “two systems” part, neglecting the “one country” part, which is basic. It is also undeniable that, so far, “one country, two systems” has worked well, allowing Hong Kong to become stronger than it was, albeit during the 2019-2020 riots.
Let’s make no mistake, both the National Security Law and the recent electoral reforms were not and will not be an attempt to undermine Hong Kong’s status quo, simply a tool to put an end to the unsustainable situation in Hong Kong due to the social unrest, and, at the same time, to make Hong Kong an even better place to live and to do business in.
The Hong Kong that we saw from June-September 2019 could not continue, because it would have become a place no one would have wanted to go to and no one would have wanted to invest in.
As mentioned by Grenville Cross, SC, former director of public prosecutions of the Hong Kong SAR, in his speech at a seminar marking the National Security Education Day 2021, “the Basic Law is a two-way street. While creating rights and freedoms, it also contains responsibilities, which must be honored. Whereas the central authorities undertook to maintain Hong Kong’s capitalist system and way of life for 50 years, the city has obligations of its own to the rest of the country”.
In other words, and I think most Hong Kong residents should be aware of that (if they are not already aware of it), if Hong Kong has remained such a great place to be, if Hong Kong remains one of the world’s freest economies and one of the world’s most important financial hubs, if Hong Kong was ranked in early March as one of the top four international financial centers in the world according to the 29th Global Financial Index, if Hong Kong is tapping into the countless opportunities offered by the Greater Bay Area blueprint… this is so because of and thanks to China. People in Hong Kong are free to like their motherland to a greater or lesser extent and they are free to express their likes and dislikes peacefully, but it is difficult to deny (even for that minority in Hong Kong who are not very fond of the Chinese mainland) that China and its reforms have brought nothing else but prosperity to Hong Kong and have allowed the special administrative region not only to maintain its status, but to enhance it.
To sum up, most of the criticism toward the electoral reform has been only an attempt to destabilize China in every possible way by using Hong Kong as a chess piece. The reform only intends to bring good things to Hong Kong, such as more stability. And, as I said, stability is necessary for any economy to prosper. Now that Hong Kong has faced two very challenging years, with the civil unrest and then the COVID-19 pandemic, it is the right time to bring back stability and calm, because the economy needs it.
The author is a fintech adviser, researcher, and a former business analyst for a Hong Kong publicly listed company.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.