CCP Interferes With Hong Kong’s Democracy
On Nov. 11, the Standing Committee of China’s rubber-stamp legislature, the National People’s Congress (NPC), passed a resolution that led to the disqualification of four Hong Kong legislators—Alvin Yeung, Dennis Kwok Wing-hang, Kwok Ka-ki, and Kenneth Leung Kai-cheong.The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might not have expected that its decision would have led the pro-democracy lawmakers to quit the Legislative Council (LegCo).
Beijing’s mouthpiece Xinhua immediately followed with an article attacking the four disqualified members, claiming that they “smeared the central government’s exercise of its legitimate constitutional power as ‘political suppression,’” “begged external forces for intervention and even sanctions that would only jeopardize the stability in the HKSAR [Hong Kong Special Administrative Region],” and “colluded with external forces to intervene in Hong Kong’s affairs.”
Xinhua also claimed the “resignation en masse” showed that the pro-democracy lawmakers were pushing back against the central authorities’ overall jurisdiction over Hong Kong.
World Leaders Call Out Beijing
World leaders have expressed concerns over the unseating of the four Hong Kong lawmakers.Nigel Adams, the U.K.’s minister for Asia, said: “We will continue to consider designations under our Magnitsky-style sanctions regime.”
Australian Foreign Minister Marissa Payne issued a press announcement, stating that “Beijing’s disqualification of elected members of the Legislative Council has seriously undermined Hong Kong’s democratic process and system, as well as the high degree of autonomy stipulated in the Basic Law and the Sino-British Joint Declaration.”
The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an international cross-party group of lawmakers working to reform the approach of democratic countries to China, also condemns the CCP’s breach of Hong Kong’s Basic Law and destruction of its autonomy.
Hong Kong Issue Highlights CCP’s Political Crisis
During a press conference of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Nov. 12, a reporter from AFP (Agence France-Presse) asked: “The U.S. has recently warned of further sanctions against China after four Hong Kong opposition lawmakers were disqualified yesterday. Other countries including the UK and Germany have also criticized the disqualification of these lawmakers. What’s China’s response?”Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said, “The issue of the qualification of the HKSAR LegCo members is purely an internal affair of China, and other countries have no right to make irresponsible remarks and interfere.”
The Hong Kong Legislative Council (LegCo) has always been an obstacle to the CCP’s tyranny. Although this year’s LegCo election was cancelled on the grounds of the pandemic, what will happen next year? Beijing wants to abolish the election of the Hong Kong LegCo so that the CCP can elect its members directly and to ensure its one-party governance. The disqualification of the four pro-democracy lawmakers is just the first step.
The CCP will never feel at ease as long as the LegCo elections are still possible. Once the democrats take control of the LegCo, it would be hard for the CCP to control Hong Kong, and the effect might spread to mainland China. Any subtle disturbance could lead to a major crisis for the regime.
