Getting patriots to govern Hong Kong was a basic safeguard for running the city under “one country, two systems” and must not be ambiguous, Chinese vice premier Han Zheng told a delegation from the city.

Han stressed that China’s plan to “improve” Hong Kong’s electoral system was to ensure the stable implementation of “one country, two systems” in the long term, according to Hong Kong members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference who attended the Saturday meeting with him.

The vice premier was cited as saying that he hoped Hong Kong would have a stable political and social environment as a result of the electoral reforms, which would be conducive to efforts in solving economic and livelihood issues.

The reforms were “necessary and urgent,” Han said, without sharing the specifics, according to CPPCC Standing Committee member Henry Tang, who spoke to the media after the meeting with the vice premier.

Tang added that he did not believe the pro-democracy camp in Hong Kong would completely disappear as a result of the reforms, saying many members of the camp did not want to destroy their city.

Han is part of the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, which comprises the top leadership of China’s Communist Party.

Separately, Rita Fan, a former Hong Kong delegate to the National People’s Congress, said that the city had not held a public consultation over the proposed electoral reforms because it was not in charge of the development of the local political system.

That responsibility lay with the NPC and its Standing Committee, the former NPCSC member told Shenzhen Satellite TV. The actions of the democrats had rendered them unqualified to be consulted, she added.

“How many in the current opposition camp aren’t elements causing chaos in Hong Kong?” Fan asked rhetorically. “How many haven’t engaged in conduct damaging Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability? Not to mention [colluding] with foreign forces and requesting they impose sanctions on Hong Kong? These people are basically ineligible to be consulted.”

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