The Chinese government’s representatives in Hong Kong have summoned local pro-Beijing lawmakers and politicians for meetings to ensure their support for Beijing’s drastic electoral reform for the city.

Officials from the central government’s liaison office have in recent days met with pro-Beijing lawmakers and members of the Election Committee, a 1,200-member panel that selects Hong Kong’s leader, Apple Daily has learned.

The meetings came as the National People’s Congress, China’s rubber-stamp legislature in Beijing, was expected to pass the proposal that would block Hong Kong pro-democratic figures from running in elections during a vote this Thursday.

The liaison officials relayed Beijing’s message about the idea of “patriots governing Hong Kong” behind the proposal and told the local Beijing loyalists to support the package. Details of the reform plan were not mentioned.

Without rivalry from pro-democracy groups, which won a landslide in the latest territory-wide District Council poll in 2019, Beijing loyalists look set to significantly expand their powers in the legislature and elections for the chief executive. Competition among different pro-Beijing groups could heat up for those seats to be left vacant by pro-democracy figures.

In Beijing, sub-groups under the NPC held meetings on Tuesday to go through amendments proposed by its constitutional and legal committees a day earlier, Apple Daily has learned.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam threw her support behind Beijing’s reform proposal during an interview with state-run media outlet CGTN, saying she was “satisfied” with efforts to improve Hong Kong’s electoral system.

Lam said the imposition of the national security law last June created an opportunity for Hong Kong to move “from chaos to order.” Beijing’s reform proposal would now guarantee political security in Hong Kong, she said.

Asked about the new mechanism for scrutinizing candidates proposed under the reform, Lam said it was not aimed at targeting pro-democracy or anti-government figures, but instead ensuring that only “patriots” who loved China would have the chance to govern Hong Kong.

“It is not about eradicating the chances of individuals who have a certain political position,” she said. “They don’t like socialism or they prefer capitalism or they want more democracy or less. They are anti-government or pro-government. It is not about that,” she said.

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