Beijing confirms plans to overhaul Hong Kong’s electoral system at China’s annual meeting of parliament

 A TV screen showing news over the opening session of the National People's Congress is seen in Hong Kong

Credit: TYRONE SIU /REUTERS

China has confirmed plans to overhaul the electoral system in Hong Kong “to safeguard national security", amid mounting criticism from the UK and other Western nations for Beijing’s suppression of the territory.  

“We will resolutely guard against and deter external forces’ interference in the affairs of Hong Kong,” Li Keqiang, the country’s premier, said in an opening speech to the annual meeting of China’s ‘rubber-stamp’ parliament.

About 3,000 delegates from across the country have descended in Beijing, under increased security and coronavirus controls to ensure the most high-profile political event of the year goes off without a hitch.

The annual two-week meeting is heavy on political spectacle and light on actual lawmaking, as delegates have no choice but to approve proposals put forward by the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

This year, China’s parliament is expected to put forward a decision to “improve” Hong Kong’s electoral system that would allow Beijing to ensure only “patriots” can be elected to govern the territory.

Opposition politicians have been deemed sufficiently “unpatriotic” to hold office.

Elections for Hong Kong’s mini-parliament, the Legislative Council, could be delayed for a second year until September 2022 to allow for these changes, Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post reported on Friday.

They were already delayed last year, with officials citing the coronavirus pandemic. Critics, however, accused the government of using public health reasons to stifle opposition candidates from running and potentially winning more seats.

Allowing only candidates deemed “patriotic” would be devastating for Hong Kong by removing the last threads of political opposition in the city.

Installing new election rules to do so will give Beijing a way to claim that barring some candidates is merely process, and required by law.  

At the gathering last year, China announced a sweeping national security law for the territory, which criminalises anything deemed by Chinese authorities to be a national security crime.

47 protestors faced a hearing on Thursday for violating China's sweeping national security law 

Credit: Lam Yik /Bloomberg

On Friday, Mr Li also announced that China would aim to hit above six per cent economic growth for 2021, moving the world’s second-largest economy back on its pre-pandemic growth trajectory. Despite coronavirus, China still managed to post 2.3 per cent growth last year.

Beijing also plans to increase defence spending by 6.8 per cent this year, earmarking nearly 1.36 trillion yuan (£150 billion) on military, as leaders have grown increasingly shrill about shoring up “national sovereignty” – namely bringing Taiwan and Hong Kong under control.

Mr Li also vowed that China would “remain highly vigilant against and resolutely deter any separatist activity seeking ‘Taiwan independence.’”

China’s ceremonial legislature typically focuses on the domestic agenda, though its annual meeting has become increasingly overshadowed by geopolitics as leader Xi Jinping faces growing criticism for his crackdown on dissent, human rights abuses, and coercive trade practices.