China claims intellectual property over Hong Kong democracy
Photo: Tyrone Siu / Reuters
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese people are the developers of Hong Kong's true and only true democratic system, Director of the Hong Kong Research Center Wang Zhenming said at a press conference in Beijing. Reported by the South China Morning Post.
Zhenming said the foundations for Hong Kong's democratic development are the PRC Constitution and the recently adopted amendments to Hong Kong's Basic Election Law. “The CCP and the Chinese people own the intellectual property of the Hong Kong democracy,” added the director.
Zhenming added that the British administration of Hong Kong, unlike the Chinese authorities, was unable to create real democracy and civil society in the city during its colonial rule.
In September, direct elections to the Electoral College were held in Hong Kong, as a result of which the opposition took only one seat out of 1,500. The Chinese mainland authorities said the results were evidence of a “flourishing” democracy in the PRC Special Administrative Region. The Chinese government emphasizes that in this way it ensured “the removal from office of anti-Chinese elements.”
On March 11, the National People's Congress (NPC, the legislature of the PRC) adopted a resolution on the reform of the electoral system in Hong Kong. With the help of new laws, the central government can promote its own “patriotic” candidates in the autonomous region and suppress any actions of the opposition. To this end, China has strengthened the powers of a special electoral commission – it will be able to resist the members of the city's legislative assembly, who are directly elected by its residents. Experts expressed the opinion that such a step helps to limit the influence of the pro-Hong Kong opposition within parliament.
Hong Kong returned to mainland China from a lease agreement between the PRC and Britain in 1997. According to the joint declaration of China and Great Britain, the city was promised wide autonomy for 50 years.
