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Published: 22:22, September 19, 2021
Western criticism of HK elections are groundless, self-serving lies
By Tu Haiming
Published:22:22, September 19, 2021 By Tu Haiming

Hong Kong held the 2021 Election Committee Subsectors Ordinary Elections (ECSS) on Sunday, the first election under the revamped electoral system since the central authorities in Beijing made the historic decision and institutionalized it in the form of amendments to Annex I and Annex II of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), which was then written into Hong Kong law by the Legislative Council (LegCo) earlier this year. This is without question another milestone in Hong Kong’s constitutional development and has won overwhelming support of Hong Kong people, but the opposition camp and its Western patrons have been yelling bloody murder with such accusations as “setback of democracy”. 

What is “good (quality) democracy” or “poor (quality) democracy”? The answer can be found only in the results of elections. In the past, every election left Hong Kong society shaken for a long while, supposedly because of fierce competition, but more often hurting than benefiting society afterward. The fact is the old electoral system had loopholes that allowed subversives including separatists to infiltrate Hong Kong’s governance structure and harm the overall public interest in the name of democracy by abusing their power, particularly in the Legislative Council (LegCo), where opposition lawmakers routinely obstructed normal proceedings for their own political gains. For them, the name of the game is zero-sum, which ends in what they called “mutual destruction” unless they have their way or win out. So much so they even delayed the approval of emergency funding bills for combatting the COVID-19 pandemic, knowing full well the grave consequences their filibustering could cause. How can anyone call it “good (quality) democracy”?  

ALSO READ: HK society pins hopes on 1st election under revamped system

Some Western critics fault Hong Kong’s improved electoral system for eliminating “fierce competition” in elections, as if that was the standard of democracy. It is rather sad because they have completely distorted the truth about democracy. 

The quality of democracy is not measured by how fierce the competition is in elections, but by the broadness of representation. For example, the democratic elements of the 2021 ECSS Ordinary Elections has increased significantly with the recent revamp, as shown below: 

Firstly, the new Election Committee has 1,500 members, 300 more than the previous one; while the number of sectors has grown from four to five and that of subsectors from 38 to 40. These increases are evidence that the representativeness of the new EC is decidedly broader than before.

Secondly, the third sector of EC now consists of representatives of grassroots communities, labor and religious groups, giving grassroots communities more representation. It is a big step forward in proving not only the “elite class” has a say in Hong Kong affairs and so do the grassroots communities, including farmers, fishermen, ordinary workers and self-employed citizens. Their presence in the EC will no doubt add grassroots voices on matters concerning their lives the most, such as affordable housing, land supply, employment, old-age care and poverty alleviation.

Thirdly, in terms of the overall interest of Hong Kong society, as well as the national interest of the whole country, the new EC also gives representation, in the fifth sector, to Hong Kong deputies to the National People’s Congress (NPC) and members of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political consultative Conference (CPPCC) and Hong Kong members of several other national groups. Those EC members represent Hong Kong’s institutional commitment to “one country, two systems” and integrating Hong Kong’s own development into the overall development strategy of the country in the years to come. 

Democracy is for serving the people, not for “show”. It obviously makes no sense to determine the quality of democracy by how fierce competition is in elections.

Since the central authorities reiterated the “patriots administer Hong Kong” principle, the opposition camp in Hong Kong and its Western patrons, including the Western mainstream media they control, have been crying wolf by accusing Beijing of pursuing “one voice” in the establishment. Such propaganda has misled some local residents to believe “patriots administer Hong Kong” excludes “pan-democrats” from standing in elections, which is absolutely false.

According to results released by the vetting body Candidate Eligibility Review Committee, a total of 1,496 candidates should have stood in the Election Committee election on Sunday, with only two individuals disqualified. One was disqualified because of technical error in registration; while the other is former LegCo member Cheng Chung-tai, who failed to prove he sincerely upholds the Basic Law and bear allegiance to the HKSAR of the People’s Republic of China. As a matter of fact, there are several EC election candidates from the “pan-democrat” camp.

Under the improved electoral system, the principle of “patriots administer Hong Kong” must be followed to the letter. It is a shame that some local residents misunderstood this principle, which means Hong Kong administrators must be genuine patriots without exception and it doesn’t matter which political part of the political spectrum they belong as long as they are staunch patriots who uphold the “one country, two systems” policy unconditionally. The “pro-establishment camp” alone does not define patriotism.

READ MORE: CE: High turnout reflects strong support for improved system

Some Western critics fault Hong Kong’s improved electoral system for eliminating “fierce competition” in elections, as if that was the standard of democracy. It is rather sad because they have completely distorted the truth about democracy. Their misinterpretation of democracy is based on Western supremacist arrogance instead of historical facts. And by "fierce competition” they really mean how many candidates supported by Western powers are winning elections. At the end of the day what they care about the most is that their proxies get in. Hong Kong was under British rule for more than one and a half centuries without even a hint of democracy, but did any of those Western politicians and mainstream media ever question the UK? 

Come to think of it, is Western-style democracy really a perfect system those China critics would have us believe? Anyone not blinded by ideological bias should have no problem reaching “no” as the correct answer. All we have to do is simply look at the reality objectively and find out what exactly Western-style democracy has done to non-Western societies through “color revolution” over the years, Hong Kong included.

The author is a Hong Kong member of the National Committee of the CPPCC and chairman of the Hong Kong New Era Development ThinkTank.


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