Beijing's patriotism test finds no support in the Basic Law
Stephen Hall says dictatorial regimes cynically define it as party support
Ever since August 31, when the National People's Congress Standing Committee laid out a range of restrictions on the 2017 chief executive election, Hong Kong has been in political and social turmoil.
In deciding that the 2017 election will be limited to a popular choice between only two or three candidates who must "love the country and love Hong Kong", the Standing Committee has set the city's constitutional development on an unlawful and unwise path. This virtually guarantees further turbulence in the years ahead.
The vague prescription that candidates "love" the country and the city finds no expression in the Basic Law. Article 44 states simply that the chief executive "shall be a Chinese citizen of not less than 40 years of age who is a permanent resident of the [SAR] with no right of abode in any foreign country and has ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than 20 years". Article 47 goes on to provide that the chief executive "must be a person of integrity, dedicated to his or her duties". This is the extent of the qualifications laid down by the Basic Law for a person aspiring to hold the office.
For the Standing Committee to impose, in effect, a patriotism test for chief executive candidates is to depart from the clear stipulations of the Basic Law. By imposing this unconstitutional requirement, the committee is attempting to disqualify any candidate whom it regards as "unpatriotic".
In the ideological jargon of the Communist Party, patriotism is narrowly understood to be coextensive with support for one-party rule on the mainland. In 2013, Qiao Xiaoyang, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee's Law Committee, declared that candidates for chief executive must not be people who would "confront" the central government.
On this distorted view of patriotism, one can have no particular regard for the liberty of Chinese people or for Chinese history, art, music, philosophy, literature and landscapes, but still become a "patriot" by supporting one-party rule.