Beijing hits back at chorus of condemnation from US, Britain, others over radical overhaul of Hong Kong electoral system

EU, Japan say shake-up undermines confidence in ‘one country, two systems’ model, while US says measures will ‘severely curtail’ representative governance in city

But a Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman has rebuffed the criticisms and defended the changes, calling it ‘a universal practice that all countries’ administrators must be patriots’

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Changes to Hong Kong’s electoral system that will mean far few directly elected members of the Legislative Council have come in for international criticism. Photo: AFP

Published: 4:25pm, 31 Mar 2021Updated: 9:45pm, 31 Mar 2021

Beijing has accused the United States and Britain of displaying double standards after they criticised the Chinese government for imposing sweeping changes to Hong Kong’s electoral system.

Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the foreign ministry, told a press conference on Wednesday that matters pertaining to Hong Kong were China’s internal affairs, and all attempts to meddle in the country’s domestic policies and exert pressure on Beijing would be futile.

“[The revamp] was to ensure ‘patriots administer Hong Kong’ and provide institutional safeguards for Hong Kong’s long-term stability,” Hua said.

“Countries including the US and Britain questioned the principle of ‘patriots governing Hong Kong’, when in fact it is a universal practice that all countries’ administrators must be patriots.”

Hua made the remarks in response to criticism by the US, the European Union, Britain and Japan over Beijing’s drastic shake-up of Hong Kong’s electoral system, with some accusing the central government of breaching the “one country, two systems” principle by undermining the city’s democratic elements.

The chorus of condemnation came hours after Beijing unveiled details of the most comprehensive changes to Hong Kong’s political system since the former British colony’s return to Chinese rule in 1997, including drastically cutting the number of directly elected seats in the legislature from 35 to 20, and creating 40 additional seats to be filled by a newly empowered Election Committee.