Residents have shown ‘unstoppable’ backing for electoral overhaul, Beijing’s top official in Hong Kong says
- Luo Huining, director of Beijing’s liaison office in the city, points to 2.4 million signatures pro-establishment camp collected in support of the changes
- It shows society’s determination to oppose foreign and external interference, he says, adding the ‘people’s voice is strong’
Luo Huining, director of Beijing’s liaison office in the city, was speaking at a ceremony on Wednesday during which pro-establishment leaders handed over boxes of documents filled with residents’ signatures in support of the central government’s reform plan.
An alliance set up by the pro-Beijing camp organised a signature campaign that ran from March 11 to March 21 and which collected a total of 2.4 million signatures – including 1.2 million collected from street booths, and another 1.2 collected from their website.
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The reform, which came after the opposition camp scored a landslide victory in the district council elections in 2019, has been strongly criticised by Western governments. Analysts have also said it would effectively remove the opposition from the city’s political landscape.
Opposition activists, the British and US governments, and the European Union have all accused Beijing of chipping away at the space for democratic debate in Hong Kong. In self-ruled Taiwan, the ruling and opposition parties both called the changes regrettable.
At the ceremony, Luo said he noticed that people from all walks of life – including government officials, lawmakers, leaders of political and community groups, grass-roots workers, young students and ethnic minority residents – had taken part in the signature drive.