editorial
Written by: Hong Kong 01
2021-04-06 06:00
Last update date: 2021-04-06 06:00
Following the “Decision on Improving the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Election System” passed by the National People’s Congress in the middle of last month, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress convened at the end of the month passed amendments to Annex I and Annex II of Hong Kong’s Basic Law, ranging from NPC decisions to laws There is less than 20 days before and after the effective date, which is faster than the legislative process of the "Hong Kong National Security Law" which took more than a month last year. This shows that the central government attaches great importance to related matters.
The two revised annexes mainly changed the specific composition of the Election Committee and the Legislative Council: As for the Election Committee, deputies to the National People’s Congress and CPPCC National Committee members of the Hong Kong District became independent and became the new fifth sector with Hong Kong members of relevant national organizations. The former two seats in the fourth sector were replaced by local area committees, fight crime committees, district fire protection committee members and representatives of mainland Hong Kong people’s groups. The remaining subsectors have also been adjusted; in the Legislative Council, the districts directly The elected members have changed from 5 constituencies and 35 seats to 10 constituencies and 20 seats, and the functional constituency elected members have changed from 29 sectors and 35 seats to 28 sectors and 30 seats, which was originally cancelled in 2004. Members elected by the election committee reappeared, occupying the largest proportion of 40 seats.
Regarding this revision of Hong Kong’s electoral system, one of the most striking estimates is that it has significantly weakened the role of district boards.
The elected members of the district boards of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories originally occupied nearly 10% of the 117 seats in the electoral committee, but these former "biggest forces" have now been completely kicked out of the electoral committee; the Legislative Council functional groups The elected members also completely exclude the six seats related to the district councils, that is, the "District Council (First)" constituency, which is formed by mutual elections among district members, and is commonly known as the "Super District Council", which has no other functional constituencies. The "District Council (Second)" category created by voting on the qualifications of voters.
The reason for this arrangement is naturally because the pan-democrats and local forces launched a protest movement after the victory of the district council elections in 2019, and even threatened to use their seats to threaten government governance.
When a group of mainstream pan-democrats succumbed to populist pressure, they probably did not expect that they would bear such a price.
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It's not too late to fight against the central government
In the face of the off-track struggle, the central government resolutely decided to use violent medicine to cure the ills and punish the chaos. This kind of strong response is predictable.
In addition to the reduction of power in district councils, whether to reduce the number of directly elected seats, establish a qualification review mechanism, adopt group voting, or require candidates to obtain nominations from all electoral committee sectors, the intention is to prevent those who deny national sovereignty from participating in the governance of Hong Kong. Especially entering the parliament to make trouble.
For the "speculators", this is a disguised "seeking benevolence and gaining benevolence", but when mainstream pan-democrats succumbed to populist pressure, they probably did not expect that they would bear such a price.
Beijing has made such a heavy move this time to greatly enhance the powers of the Election Committee, which just confirms the unwiseness of the pan-democrats in Hong Kong in the past to indulge in "small to big".
"Hong Kong 01" has repeatedly exhorted politicians not to be led by radical local forces in the past, not to mention the illusion that actions that challenge national sovereignty will be tolerated.
Recently, it is rumored that the Democratic Party is preparing to form a "Mainland Political System Committee." Other similar parties have also begun to reflect on their strategies. Even the Chief Executive Carrie Lam, when answering reporters’ questions last week, urged everyone not to equate the democrats with "unpatriotic." "It also stated that the design of the electoral system will not block individual parties from participating in accordance with their political stance.
As long as the parties really intend to reconcile themselves, reconciliation is by no means impossible.
In fact, just as the "Hong Kong National Security Law" cannot completely replace the "self-enactment" of local national security affairs stipulated in Article 23 of the Basic Law, this electoral reform is not final, and there will still be opportunities to make adjustments depending on actual progress in the future.
"Hong Kong 01" has repeatedly exhorted politicians not to be led by radical local forces in the past, not to mention the illusion that actions that challenge national sovereignty will be tolerated.
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The central government will lead the reform and rectification of the system
Compared with the commonly felt "punishment" for the pan-democrats, this restructuring deserves more attention. In fact, the central government has clearly expressed its distrust of the SAR government and the establishment forces.
The original attachment points out that if the method for selecting the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council needs to be modified, it must be subject to "the consent of the Chief Executive." The NPC Standing Committee’s 2004 interpretation also stipulated that the political reform process should be initiated by the Chief Executive’s report to the Standing Committee. However, the two annexes after this revision only mentioned that the power to modify the method for the formation of the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council is "exercised by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in accordance with the law." "Opinions from all walks of life in Hong Kong society", Xie Zhong did not mention any role of the SAR government, indicating that the central government has regained the leadership of local political reforms. The implication behind it is very likely that Hong Kong government officials are incapable of promoting political reforms.
As for the members of the local establishment, on the surface, they have expanded their space to fight for seats in the Election Committee and the Legislative Council. However, some members of several groups under the new regulations have increased the requirements for those related to mainland groups. In addition, it is clearly allowed that deputies to the National People's Congress and members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in the port area can become election committees with other names. At the same time, the convener of the election committee appointed by the state leader is set up to lead the meeting.
These measures can be regarded as the Central Government’s hope that the Hong Kong establishment members in the election committee will better understand and cooperate with the national policy, instead of resorting to the status of the election committee to make behaviors that do not match their own status, and even watch indifferently that many Hong Kong people have more and more views towards the Central Committee. Misunderstanding, but he took the opportunity to seek personal gain in it.
From this point of view, this change in the electoral system is not completely aimed at the pan-democrats like some comments, but also means "cleaning up" the Hong Kong government and the local establishment.
Of course, this is definitely not asking the government or the establishment to stand up to each other's humiliation, or use labels such as "loyal waste" to criticize each other.
In recent years, the division and tearing caused by political factions such as Hong Kong's establishment, pan-democracy, and local political factions has been serious enough. At this moment, there is really no need to create a new "battlefield."
Rather than looking for other "enemies," what they should do best is to self-examine and ask themselves how much things they have done in the past that are conducive to the long-term well-being of Hong Kong?
Can he truly be called a "patriot"?
Rather than looking for other "enemies," the most important thing that the establishment should do is to self-examine and ask yourself how much things have been done in the past to benefit Hong Kong's long-term well-being.
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Highlight the overall interests of the goal of universal suffrage
Finally, it must be emphasized that the central idea of this system reform is to strengthen the "overall interests" of Hong Kong.
The National People’s Congress "Decision on Improving the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Electoral System" stated that the Election Committee must be "widely representative" and "reflect the overall interests of society." Measures to effectively balance the interests of all sectors. For example, many sub-groups in the business and finance sectors were reduced by one seat to be replaced by 15-seat small and medium-sized enterprises, and two sub-groups in the medical and health service sectors were integrated and joined the 60-seat grassroots associations. Grouping, etc.; the redistribution of these seats can help resolve the problem of leaning towards vested interests such as large local enterprises and medical hegemony. When the overall number of people increases, it can also avoid excessive voices from a single sector, political party or profession.
Some public opinion criticized the central government for changing the electoral system this time, which deviated from the original goal of universal suffrage. However, in fact, Wang Chen, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, has emphasized that the restructuring "only amends Hong Kong’s Basic Law" "Annex 1 and Annex 2 do not involve amendments to the main body of Hong Kong’s Basic Law." The so-called "no amendments" here, of course, include the provisions of Article 45 and Article 68 of the Basic Law regarding the election of the Chief Executive and all members of the Legislative Council by universal suffrage. The goal.
The National People’s Congress Standing Committee’s two decisions on the method for selecting the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council of the Special Administrative Region in 2007 and 2014 also established the principle that universal suffrage for the Chief Executive in Hong Kong from 2017 and subsequent universal suffrage for the Legislative Council was established. At this stage, there is no sign that the central government has changed the content of relevant decisions.
Moreover, the new system with the electoral committee as the main body can certainly provide the central government with a higher safety factor. Obviously, Beijing also hopes to straighten out Hong Kong's governance through this.
As Zhang Yong, deputy director of the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, pointed out in an interview a few days ago, this restructuring is to "improve the effectiveness of the governance of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and gradually develop a democratic system." Fundamentally solve the long-term deep-seated problems Hong Kong has faced. On the other hand, it will continue to "promote democratic development in line with Hong Kong's actual conditions in a timely manner to prepare and lay the foundation for the ultimate realization of the goal of universal suffrage."
If the improved Hong Kong electoral system proves to be effective in the future and is trusted by the central government, Hong Kong can still achieve universal suffrage under the framework set by the state.
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