By-election 'referendum' would allow Hongkongers to decide on Chinese-style democracy
Joseph Wong says the question of whether Hongkongers will accept universal suffrage with Chinese characteristics can be answered through an easily engineered 'referendum'
Han Han, the post-80s bestselling mainland writer, once said: "There are two kinds of logic in the world: one is logic, the other is China's logic." The recent decision by the National People's Congress Standing Committee on the election of Hong Kong's chief executive by universal suffrage is a classic example of China applying its logic.
Article 45 of the Basic Law says that "a broadly representative" committee should be formed to nominate candidates for the office, "in accordance with democratic procedures". As the Election Committee that nominated and elected the chief executive in the past has been described as "broadly representative" in the Basic Law, the NPC has decided that the new nominating committee should follow its lead, in terms of the "number of members, composition and formation method".
Such a decision is a departure from the previous NPC decision, made in 2007, that the nominating committee may be formed "with reference to" the Election Committee.
No doubt Chinese logic would describe the latest decision as a clarification of the original legislative intent that removes any undesirable ambiguities.
Nobody could argue against a broadly representative nominating committee, except that a clone of the Election Committee won't be one. The Election Committee represents about 240,000 voters, fewer than 8 per cent of those registered in Hong Kong, never mind that its composition is heavily tilted towards the business sector.
Likewise, while majority rule is to be welcomed in a democracy, the requirement that each of the two to three candidates must have the endorsement of more than half of all nominating committee members has no precedent in any system of universal suffrage.