A political reform in Hong Kong, which is completely dominated by Beijing without the participation of Hongkongers, is set to be implemented. Wang Chen, Vice Chairman of the National People’s Congress, described the reform as a move to “improve the electoral system” of Hong Kong and to establish a “new democratic electoral system with Hong Kong characteristics”. With the reform, Hong Kong’s political system may well go back to how it was in the 1980s and 1990s overnight. Many people zero in on the new Election Committee as part of the proposed change, but there is something that will have a more far-reaching impact.

The newly Election Committee is without doubt the core of the new political system under which only patriots can govern Hong Kong.

1) The newly formed committee will be established on the basis of the existing committee, with the number of members increasing from 1,200 to 1,500. The additional members will comprise members of China’s People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and other pro-Beijing groups. District councilors will be scrapped from the committee.

2) The new committee can nominate and elect Hong Kong’s chief executive, and it will have a new vetting committee to monitor candidates for office to ensure they are sufficiently patriotic. Members of the new Election Committee will also elect representatives among themselves to get into the Legislative Council (LegCo) (it is said that there will be 30 to 40 such representatives).

3) The number of LegCo members will increase from 70 to 90. The seats will be split between geographical constituencies, functional constituencies and the new Election Committee, allegedly numbering 20, 30 and 40 respectively.

Such a shake-up of the system is meant to ensure that “patriots” will have the absolute majority at all levels of Hong Kong’s mini-parliament. The old Election Committee is already dominated by pro-Beijing figures. With the addition of CPPCC members, Beijing can secure an even more pro-Beijing committee. Candidates whom Beijing finds unacceptable can be easily eliminated. Under the reform, before a LegCo election is ever held, Beijing already has a firm grasp of 30 seats that belong to the Election Committee, as well as most seats of the functional constituencies. That amounts to half of the LegCo seats. For the remaining seats belonging to functional constituencies and geographical constituencies, the candidates will at best be those from the so-called loyal opposition whom Beijing find acceptable. So it can be said that Beijing now has full control over all top positions of the Hong Kong government, all levels of LegCo, statutory bodies and advisory bodies. Compared with the British colonial government in the 1980s, Beijing now has much greater statutory control over Hong Kong.

However, the most far-reaching impact is related to the de facto abolition of Annex 1 and Annex 2 of the Basic Law. According to the two annexes, if there is a need to amend the method for selecting the chief executives or forming LegCo, such amendments must be made with the endorsement of a two-thirds majority of all LegCo members and the consent of the chief executive, and they have to be approved by or reported to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC). This is the so-called “five steps”. But under the new political system, the NPC is to authorize the NPCSC to initiate the amendment procedure. That is tantamount to alienating Hong Kong from the city’s political reform procedure. Beijing has the final say, and it can amend things whenever it wants to. The five steps have been reduced to one single step. Thus, the Basic Law no longer has any authority, and Beijing’s promise to Hong Kong has vanished into thin air.

Nevertheless, it is not only Hong Kong people who are affected. The damage is even greater to the pro-establishment camp.

1) Beijing no longer cares about the justice of procedure. It no longer bothers to appease Hongkongers or the international community. All these are superficial gestures. It only wants to exert control over Hong Kong.

2) Stakeholders who used to have much say in formulating political rules in Hong Kong and the governance of the city, including high-ranking government officials, members of the pro-establishment camp, consortiums in the business sector and foreign investors are all booted out of the game. Unless they collaborate with big state-owned enterprises or mainland consortiums with state support, the pro-establishment camp and the business sector can hardly access the government coffers as they currently can.

3) The Hong Kong government has been further reduced to an administrator and executor. This is a sign of Beijing’s distrust in and dissatisfaction with Hong Kong officials. The distrust is reflected in part by the new election arrangement, whereby Beijing is the one who makes decisions while the new Election Committee will pick all the candidates, with the Electoral Affairs Commission, the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau, and the Home Affairs Bureau implementing related tasks.

4) Beijing wants the pro-establishment to be a puppet and “loyal garbage” in Tian Feilong’s words. This means they have to be members of the new Election Committee, LegCo and advisory bodies. But at the same time, Beijing wants to have “capable patriots” who excel in execution, and these people are high-ranking government officials and civil servants.

(Poon Siu-to, veteran journalist)

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