Critics accuse Beijing of going back on its word and ending the ‘one country, two systems’ framework
Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam receives Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine at the Community Vaccination Centre in Hong Kong. Pic/AFP
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam gave her clear support on Tuesday to electoral reforms that would likely further exclude opposition voices and cement Beijing’s control over the semi-autonomous Chinese city’s politics.
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Her comments came a day after a top Beijing official signalled major changes would be coming to ensure is run by “patriots,” a clear sign that China intends to no longer tolerate dissenting voices, 23 years after the former British colony was handed over to Chinese rule with a promise it could maintain its own rights and freedoms for 50 years.
Following China’s imposition of a sweeping national security law on the city last year, authorities have moved to expel members of the city’s Legislative Council deemed insufficiently loyal and rounded up veteran opposition leaders on charges including illegal assembly and colluding with foreign forces.
Government critics and Western governments accuse Beijing of going back on its word and effectively ending the “one country, two systems” framework for governing the dynamic Asian financial hub. Lam said political strife and unrest in the city, including anti-government protests in 2019 as well as protests in 2014, showed there were always some people who are “rather hostile” to the central authorities in China.
“I can understand that the central authorities are very concerned, they do not want the situation to deteriorate further in such a way that one country, two systems’ cannot be implemented,” Lam said at a regular news briefing. A day earlier, Xia Baolong, director of Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, said Hong Kong could only be ruled by “patriots,” which exclude those who lobby other countries for foreign sanctions or “troublemakers.”
Trudeau abstains from vote against Chinese ‘genocide’
Canada’s House of Commons voted to declare that China is committing genocide against more than 1 mn Uighurs in western Xinjiang region but PM Justin Trudeau and his Cabinet abstained from the vote. The motion passed 266-0 on Monday as virtually all but Trudeau and his Cabinet voted for the measure that also called on the International Olympic Committee to move 2022 Winter Olympics from Beijing.
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