Beijing will combine functional constituencies with one man, one vote, mainland professor says
The trade-based functional constituencies are likely to survive the implementation of universal suffrage, according to a top adviser to a Beijing think tank on Hong Kong affairs.
Professor Lau Siu-kai said he believes Beijing would aim for a system that could combine elements of universal suffrage with the Legislative Council's trade-based seats.
Speaking after a radio interview yesterday, Lau, vice-chairman of the semi-official Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, said: "From the viewpoint of the central authorities, Hong Kong's governance in the past few years could have become much more difficult if it had not been for the support of legislators from functional constituencies.
"Beijing's view is that Hong Kong's political development must serve the purpose of the 'one country, two systems' policy, which is … to protect investors' interest and the capitalist system and avoid welfarism and populism."
He believed Beijing would not allow the functional constituencies to be scrapped in the near future. "The most probable result is to find a way that can incorporate universal suffrage elements into functional constituency [elections]," he said.
