Former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, who oversaw a brief detente with China’s Communist Party rulers, said on Friday that Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” framework has been certified dead and that he felt “very regretful” about the vote by lawmakers in Beijing on Thursday to rewrite the city’s electoral rules.

The concept of “one country, two systems” put forward in 1984 by the former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping has officially become history, Ma, 70, said, in response to media inquiries at a ceremony he attended to mark the 96th anniversary of the death of Sun Yat-sen, widely seen as the founder of modern China.

The “one country, two systems” concept was originally put forward as a potential framework to resolve the issue of how to unify the mainland and Taiwan — which Beijing has threatened to take back by force, if necessary, since the defeated republican army of Chiang Kai-shek retreated there after losing to Mao Zedong’s Communists in 1948.

The framework offered to preserve the liberties and rights enjoyed by the Chinese people living in Hong Kong and Taiwan outside of Communist Party rule in return for their acceptance of Beijing’s sovereignty. That idea has backfired by the self-governing island in recent years, especially after the anti-government protest movement that swept through the former British colony in 2019.

The central authorities in Beijing subsequently imposed the national security law on the city last June, essentially criminalizing and wiping out the once-tolerated dissenting voices. Several dozen pro-democracy activists, including Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai, have been charged under the sweeping legislation.

The Hong Kong-born Ma, who held office between 2008 and 2016, struck multiple agreements with China on the economy and tourism, giving rise to a brief detente with the mainland.

Ma also met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in November 2015 in Singapore, the first meeting between leaders of the two sides in 66 years.

Taiwan’s current politicians also stepped into the debate.

Johnny Chiang, the head of Ma’s Kuomintang opposition, called on Beijing to ensure the freedom and democratization of Hong Kong in order to win the hearts of the city’s people.

Meantime, lawmaker Mark Ho of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party said: “For the past 70 years, peace has depended on [Beijing’s] self-restraint. The issue of Hong Kong has raised a question for the international community about whether China can still protect human rights in accordance with international conventions.

“If China is unable to achieve this, it will only make international and regional relations more tense,” the independence-leaning lawmaker added.

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