The Hong Kong flag was flown from a ferry on July 2, 1997, a day after the former British colony returned to Chinese rule.
Romeo Gacad | AFP | Getty Images
Beijing on Friday proposed amendments to “improve” the electoral system in Hong Kong – a widely anticipated move as China tightened its grip on the semi-autonomous region.
Before the proposal was announced, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang said at the start of China’s annual parliamentary session ‘Two Sessions’ that the country would ‘resolutely guard against the interference of external forces’ in the city.
The proposed changes include adjusting the size, composition and formation of Hong Kong’s election committee, which elects the city’s leader or chief executive, state media Xinhua said.
Beijing also wants to expand the committee’s function to also select a ‘relatively large part’ of the Hong Kong legislature and nominate candidates for the body, Xinhua said.
Last week, several media outlets reported that possible changes to the Hong Kong electoral system would hold back Hong Kong’s pro-democracy politicians.
Hong Kong is a former British colony that returned to the Chinese government in 1997. The city is governed by a ‘one country, two systems’ principle which gives it greater autonomy than other mainland Chinese cities, including limited electoral rights.
Beijing has been criticized internationally – by countries such as the US and the UK – for undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy promised under the “one country, two systems” framework.
The proposed changes to Hong Kong’s electoral system took place about a year after Beijing circumvented the city’s legislation to enact a controversial national security law.
The implementation of the law followed months of protests for democracy in the city that sometimes became violent. Chinese officials and state media often blamed the “external forces” for the protests in Hong Kong.
Wang Chen, deputy chairman of the standing committee of the National People’s Congress, said on Friday that “riots and unrest” in Hong Kong indicate “clear loopholes and shortcomings” in the electoral system, Xinhua reported.
The National People’s Congress is China’s leading legislator.
Chen added that changes need to be made so that Hong Kong is run only by ‘patriots’, according to the report.