In pursuit of a ‘loyal opposition’: Beijing’s drastic shakeup of Hong Kong’s electoral process has one clear goal – control

China’s top legislative body now meeting in the capital could endorse measures that would sideline opposition members from the committee that picks the chief executive

Beijing may instead target the bloc through expanding oath-taking requirements to disenfranchise district councillors, but observers say the result will be the same – to stack all elections with candidates it can control

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District councillors in the opposition camp have entered Beijing’s cross hairs. Here, dozens are pictured announcing in February protest actions over the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Photo: Felix Wong

Tony Cheung,Chris Lau,Lilian ChengandWilliam Zheng

Published: 8:00am, 24 Dec 2020Updated: 2:01am, 10 Mar 2021

Beijing’s plans to rein in Hong Kong district councillors represent part of the central government’s sweeping project to reform the city’s opposition and curb its influence to a level the country’s leaders can accept, according to analysts.

Observers of Hong Kong affairs said Beijing was trying to “drain” the city’s political system of players it deemed to be disloyal and reconstruct it to ensure that “patriots must form the main body of the city’s administrators”, as late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping said in the 1980s.

But critics and the opposition camp reacted with anger and despair, warning that the future of the city’s democratic development was being abandoned, with Beijing putting its need to assert absolute control at the expense of a well-established electoral system. With Beijing’s crackdown, Hong Kong people’s aspiration for electing their leader by popular ballot was being cast aside, they said.

Patriots must form the main body of the city’s administrators, late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping said. Photo: AFP

Steps weighed in Beijing

Sources on Tuesday revealed to the Post that Beijing was mulling a drastic overhaul of the Election Committee that chooses Hong Kong’s chief executive by scrapping all 117 seats likely to be controlled by opposition district councillors to quash their influence in the 2022 leadership race.

The move to rejig the 1,200-member Election Committee comes at a time of the opposition’s increasing influence after last year’s social unrest sparked by a now-withdrawn extradition bill. The committee comprises business elites, professionals, social leaders, lawmakers, delegates to the National People’s Congress (NPC) and members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), as well as a total of 117 seats to be elected by district councillors from among their members.