On March 30, China’s legislature unanimously adopted amendments to Annex I and Annex II of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region with the purpose of improving Hong Kong’s electoral system.
Under the electoral overhaul plan, the Election Committee will be granted the power to elect 40 representatives to the Legislative Council, which has been expanded from 70 to 90 seats. As for the remaining seats, 30 will 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 unpatriotic candidates to run.
This reform puts in practice the precept of “patriots only”; i.e., only patriots should administer Hong Kong.
The reforms have been criticized by many Western media and politicians, who see them as one step more toward the “oppression of Hong Kongers”, the “loss of democracy and human rights in Hong Kong” as well as “more proof that Hong Kong is no longer autonomous”. However, as I have been repeating in my latest articles, when it comes to talking about China and its HKSAR, most Western media are profoundly biased and lack the elements to actually know what they are talking about (or, perhaps, and this is even worse, they know perfectly well what they are talking about, but they prefer to keep misinforming its readers in order to keep building this narrative in which Hong Kong is being oppressed and Beijing is evil, thus undermining China’s current position as the world’s soon-to-be No 1 economy).
Let’s make no mistake: Both the National Security Law for Hong Kong and the recent electoral reforms were not and will not be an attempt to undermine Hong Kong’s status quo, but are simply tools to put an end to the unsustainable situation that Hong Kong was living in 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
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said, in an open letter to the people of Hong Kong recently, “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 these remarks are very accurate, in the sense that what Hong Kong needs right now is not the continuation of anarchy and confrontation witnessed in 2019, but stability.
The reform is not going to terminate the “one country, two systems” principle, but it will enhance it. The main effect that it is going to bring to Hong Kong is to bring more stability. Actually, all the things that China has been doing these last two years, regarding the new reforms (such as promulgation of the National Security Law for Hong Kong 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. The main mistake that many people make when talking about this principle is that they just focus on the “two systems” part, neglecting the “one country” part, which is the premise. It is undeniable that, so far, “one country, two systems” has worked well, allowing Hong Kong to become stronger than it was, albeit the 2019-20 riots.
Let’s make no mistake: Both the National Security Law for Hong Kong and the recent electoral reforms were not and will not be an attempt to undermine Hong Kong’s status quo, but are simply tools to put an end to the unsustainable situation that Hong Kong was living in 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 in the second half of 2019 could not continue like that because it would have become a place where no one would have wanted to go to and where no one would have wanted to invest in.
Anarchy cannot prevail, in Hong Kong and anywhere else, and the only reason why anarchy has not prevailed in the region is because of Beijing’s intervention.
In other words, and I think most Hong Kongers 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 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area blueprint … this is so because of China, not because of the anarchists disguised as “pro-democracy fighters”.
To sum up, when it comes to China and its Hong Kong SAR, we need to apply a simple test to see whether any reform is good or not: If the West welcomes them, then it means that these reforms are bad for China and therefore bad for Hong Kong SAR. If the West criticizes them, then it means the reforms are actually beneficial for both China and its HKSAR. The West is not worried at all about Hong Kong’s well-being; it only cares to destabilize China in every possible way; hence its criticism of the electoral reform that will bring good things to Hong Kong, such as more stability.
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.