City Beat | Why is Beijing quiet about the opposition’s landslide district election victory?
- An accurate assessment of mainstream public opinion in Hong Kong is critical as the city has shown a strong desire for change
- The lack of any swift official response hopefully means a sign of prudence from Beijing regarding its coming policies
Intriguingly, the past week saw Beijing wasting no time in condemning the US as President Donald Trump finally signed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act into law, in sharp contrast to its silence over its allies’ landslide defeat in a major local election.
“Speechless” could well describe how Beijing felt about this much-worse-than-expected result, though it never had high expectations to begin with.
The central government’s task force, which has been stationed in neighbouring Shenzhen since the massive protests broke out, has been analysing the situation before it can report to the top leadership. The lack of a response could mean more time is needed.
Firstly, it was the belated reporting by state media – the official Xinhua News Agency’s report was not out until hours after the results, but only with a few lines stating that the 18-district election had been completed, and no mention at all of the winners and losers.
And so far, no major department in charge of Hong Kong affairs – in particular Beijing’s Liaison Office in the city, as well as the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office under the State Council – has made any open remark, except for foreign minister Wang Yi, who was visiting Japan. When grilled by overseas journalists, he gave a diplomatic answer, declaring nothing could change the fact that Hong Kong was part of China.