China’s President Xi Jinping on Wednesday gave a strong endorsement to both Hong Kong’s current Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, and its recently held “patriots only” elections, which saw a record low turnout and no participation by most of the pro-democracy Opposition candidates.
Ms. Lam, who faced widespread criticism in Hong Kong over her administration’s handling of the 2019 pro-democracy protests, met Mr. Xi in Beijing, in what was his first face-to-face meeting with a senior official from outside the Chinese mainland since February last year, according to the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post .
Mr. Xi has not left China since a visit to Myanmar in mid-January 2020, days before the lockdown of Wuhan where the COVID-19 pandemic began.
A new Chief Executive for Hong Kong will be chosen by an Election Committee in March.
Ms. Lam has not said whether she will seek to stay on for another term, and denied that her annual trip to the Chinese capital to deliver a “work report” would see her seek Beijing’s endorsement.
Acknowledging Lam
Mr. Xi nonetheless gave her one, saying that “the central authorities fully acknowledge the performance of Carrie Lam and the HKSAR [Hong Kong Special Administrative Region] government in fulfilling their duties”, State-broadcaster China Central Television reported.
“The city has gone from a period of chaos to stability,” he said, also praising “the HKSAR government's efforts to contain COVID-19 and boost the city's economic recovery”.
On Sunday’s Legislative Council (LegCo) elections, the Chinese leader said the polls “proved that the improved electoral system is in line with the principle of ‘One Country, Two Systems’ as well as the reality of Hong Kong”.
“The elections had manifested the democratic rights which allowed Hong Kong compatriots to be masters of their own home, and implemented the principles of patriots administering Hong Kong,” he said. “It also established a political system which ensures the balanced participation of various sectors.”
The “patriots only” polls were swept by pro-Beijing candidates after the new electoral system, put forward by Beijing in March, essentially ruled out the participation of most of the pro-democracy Opposition candidates and also reduced the number of directly elected representatives in LegCo from 50% to 22%, with the rest nominated.
Record low turnout
The new system also screens candidates with a committee determining their eligibility and whether they are “patriots”, part of a new push by Beijing to ensure “patriots administering Hong Kong”.
The polls saw a record low turnout, down to only 30.2% of registered voters, down from 58.28% in the last elections in 2016 with the number of people casting their ballot falling by as much as 60%.
G7 concerns
On Tuesday, G7 Foreign Ministers (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.S., U.K.) and the EU in a joint statement expressed “grave concern over the erosion of democratic elements of the SAR’s electoral system”, saying that the changes “severely restrict the choice of candidates on the ballot paper” and “undermined Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy”.
The statement brought a sharp response from Beijing’s Liaison Office in Hong Kong, whose spokesperson, in a statement, “expressed the office's strong indignation” at what he called "a clumsy political trick and gross interference in China’s internal affairs.”
