National People's Congress: China Grabs Hold of Hong Kong Elections

China approved an overhaul of Hong Kong elections during the National People's Congress, putting the force of law behind President Xi Jinping’s call for “patriots” to run the city. Zhang Xiaoming, a senior official for Hong Kong affairs in Beijing, discussed China’s move “improving the election committee” in the city during the annual political meeting in Beijing.

“It goes without saying that those who administer Hong Kong must be patriots,” said Zhang.

With President Xi Jinping watching, the National People’s Congress passed near unanimously a proposal Thursday to change the size and composition of the body that picks the city’s chief executive, and have it nominate local legislators. The rubber-stamp parliament also established a vetting committee to ensure candidates for the positions including the Legislative Council are “patriots,” effectively ending China’s only experiment with open elections.

The move amounted to a “total purge of democratic figures” who have played a prominent role in the former British colony since the handover 24 years ago, said Kenneth Chan, an associate professor at Hong Kong Baptist University.

“This is the second handover because the first one wasn’t very successful in Beijing’s eyes,” he said. “The newly elected or selected LegCo members will be President Xi’s men and women.”

Japan, the European Union, the U.K. and the U.S. expressed concern about the vote, which U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called a “direct attack” on the autonomy promised to Hong Kong. “These actions deny Hong Kongers a voice in their own governance by limiting political participation, reducing democratic representation, and stifling political debate,” Blinken said, adding that authorities should hold open elections this year as previously planned and release jailed opposition figures.

Lawmakers in the Great Hall of the People erupted in applause after the results were announced: Some 2,895 delegates approved the revamp, with one abstention and none voting against a measure only placed on the agenda a week ago that wasn’t made public in full until after the vote. China’s national parliament has never voted down legislation submitted by the Communist Party leadership.

The measure puts the force of law behind Xi’s call for “patriots” to run Hong Kong after a historic wave of pro-democracy protests in 2019. The NPC’s Standing Committee -- a legislative body of about 175 members that meets every two months -- is now expected to flesh out the overhaul before handing down the final plan for Hong Kong to implement.

The process mirrors how Beijing imposed a broad national security law on the city last year without public debate. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said Monday that the revamp would require the city’s Legislative Council to enact “more than 20 pieces of principal and subsidiary legislation,” which would be pushed through without the usual public consultations.

The legislation will establish a “review committee” that vets qualifications of candidates for office, according to a text of the overhaul published by the official Xinhua News Agency moments after the vote. The 1,200-member body that picks chief executive candidates will be expanded by 300 seats, and the Legislative Council will have 90 seats, up from 70.

Not only would the moves would reduce the relative power of individual members, they would will also roll back the number of legislative seats chosen by ordinary voters. Scenarios being considered could lead to as few as 22% of Legislative Council seats being directly elected, compared with 50% currently, local media including the HK01 news site reported.

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