Advertisement
Hong Kong elections: state leader Xia Baolong urges public to vote in Legislative Council poll, insists Beijing embraces diversity
- Xia Baolong, from Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, says limiting power only to ‘patriots’ does not stop people from diverse backgrounds taking office
- He also blasts ‘external forces’ for questioning credibility of Beijing’s overhaul of Hong Kong’s electoral system
Reading Time:5 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
31
A state leader overseeing Hong Kong affairs urged the public on Monday to vote in this month’s Legislative Council election amid low turnout fears, as he stressed that Beijing embraced diversity under the principle that only “patriots” could govern the city.
Advertisement
Xia Baolong, director of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, sought to reassure residents that the central government was not asking for political homogeneity through its revamp of the city’s electoral system, and instead wanted those holding power to come from a range of backgrounds.
Hitting out at “external forces” who queried the credibility of the reforms, the top official said Western countries were in no position to lecture China and Hong Kong on the design of the city’s electoral system.
“They are not ‘straight-A students’ in the classroom of democracy. Nor are they qualified to be ‘teachers’,” he said. “It only shows their ignorance, arrogance and bias.”
His remarks were made at the launch of a history book – published via a think tank chaired by former Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa – that documents the city’s role in China’s economic reforms and opening up since 1978.
“I believe the Hong Kong people will cast their solemn votes in the December 19 Legco election. It’s not just a vote for their favoured candidates but a vote of confidence in the ‘one country, two systems’,” Xia said, referring to the governing principle for Hong Kong.
Advertisement
The poll will be the first for the legislature since Beijing’s overhaul in March of the city’s electoral system to ensure only so-called patriots could hold positions of power.
Advertisement