China’s ruling Communist Party gave its clearest signal yet that it plans to bring Hong Kong under its full control, with a top official saying Thursday that Beijing wants to “improve” the system that has allowed the territory to enjoy a level of autonomy for the past 23 years.
After steadily eroding Hong Kong’s freedom of assembly and expression, and independent legal system, the party now appears to be readying to change the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution.
“We will ensure the long-term stability of ‘one country, two systems,’” Wang Yang, a top party official and head of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, said at the opening of the annual meeting of the country’s top political advisory body. The meeting is the first part of the “Two Sessions,” which will continue Friday with the opening of the National People’s Congress, the rubber-stamp parliament.
“We will continue to support the improvement of the implementation of the systems and mechanisms of the constitution and Basic Law,” Wang, the fourth most senior leader in the Communist Party, said in his “Work Report” to the meeting.
He did not elaborate on what “improve” meant, and Wang also referred to the Chinese territory of Macao, a gambling hub whose leaders have hewed much more closely to Beijing’s line.
Analysts said it was clear that Beijing wanted to gnaw away at Hong Kong’s relative freedoms compared with the mainland.
Under the agreement Britain signed with China before it handed back control of Hong Kong in 1997, the territory is supposed to enjoy 50 years of semi-autonomy from Beijing.
While being “one country,” they were supposed to enjoy “two systems” until 2047. This arrangement helped Hong Kong to flourish as a global financial center even after returning to Beijing’s overall control.
But under Xi Jinping’s leadership, the Communist Party has increasingly encroached on those freedoms. This has worsened in the past year, since protests against Beijing’s interference and in favor of greater freedoms and democracy erupted in Hong Kong.
In recent months, Beijing has installed a tough new representative in Hong Kong, called for patriotic education to instill more allegiance to China, and promoted a bill that would make it a criminal offense to disrespect China’s national anthem.
Delegates from Hong Kong, including Carrie Lam, the city’s chief executive, have arrived in Beijing for the Two Sessions.
One Hong Kong delegate to the National People’s Congress has proposed that Beijing implement a package of national security laws by issuing a formal reinterpretation of Hong Kong laws, rather than attempting to pass it through the territory’s legislature.
Wang said that Beijing supported the Hong Kong deputies’ efforts to “avoid violence in Hong Kong and to restore order.”
Citing coronavirus control efforts, Hong Kong authorities have extended prohibitions on public gatherings to continue through June 4, the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre and a date that is always marked with a large vigil in Hong Kong.
Wang also hit out at Washington for its calls to respect Hong Kong’s semiautonomous status and the calls for democratic change. “As to the U.S. Senate and U.S. Congress and their actions, like the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act… we have made solemn statements to refute such lies,” he said.
Featured image: Participants wave British and U.S. flags during a rally demanding electoral democracy and call for boycott of the Chinese Communist Party and all businesses seen to support it in Hong Kong on Jan. 19. (Ng Han Guan/AP)
By Anna Fifield @ Washington Post