Hong Kong government must not blindly follow electoral 'instructions'
Michael C. Davis says mainland official's guidelines have no basis in Basic Law and must be resisted
It has become increasingly apparent that Hong Kong needs to find its voice on the road to universal suffrage or risk a calamitous imposition of an undemocratic model by Beijing.
It became clear, during the weekend visit of Li Fei, the chairman of the Basic Law Committee, that the mainland is bent on seizing control over electoral reform in ways that may go well beyond Basic Law requirements.
Hong Kong people will surely select candidates who can represent their interest
The chairman of the Basic Law Committee actually has no formal individual role under the Basic Law in changing the method of electing the chief executive. The Basic Law Committee's role is limited to advice on interpretation. This may, however, be overlooked by government supporters in the flurry to read Beijing's intentions.
Hong Kong faces a crisis of confidence in choosing a path to democracy.
If the government follows its pattern, it will view the guidelines offered by Li as its "instructions" going forward. Most of these reported instructions have no basis in the Basic Law text.
This would not be a problem if the government had the tradition of proactively defending Hong Kong's autonomy in respect of constitutional development. But it does not.
Li's instructions include the noted dilemma: the challenge of combining the Basic Law's requirement that any Hong Kong resident of Chinese nationality of suitable age be entitled to run for chief executive, with the Chinese government specification that the chief executive "love Hong Kong and love China".