The head of a powerful vetting committee tasked with ensuring Hong Kong election candidates pose no threat to national security has vowed to weed out those “faking” allegiance to the city. Chief Secretary John Lee Ka-chiu said on Saturday the candidate eligibility review committee he chairs would perform its role as gatekeeper fairly and in line with the law to deliver the successful implementation of Beijing’s reforms to Hong Kong’s elections system. New BN(O) passport rule for members of Hong Kong’s powerful election body Lee said the committee would decide whether those seeking office met its criteria for properly embracing the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, and pledging loyalty to the city. “We will reject those ‘faking to embrace’ or ‘faking to pledge allegiance’ from the doors of the governance structure,” the city’s No 2 official wrote on his blog on Saturday. The committee is tasked with reviewing and signing off candidates looking to run in the polls for the chief executive, the Legislative Council and the Election Committee. The latter body’s role has expanded, beyond only selecting the city’s leader, to nominating hopefuls for the legislature and fielding representatives of their own. The vetting committee was established as part of the Beijing-decreed overhaul of Hong Kong elections approved in March to screen out candidates deemed “unpatriotic” or who threatened national security. Polls for the Election Committee, Legco and the city’s chief executive will be held in September, December and next March respectively. On Friday, the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office director Xia Baolong said for Hong Kong to achieve economic prosperity and long-term stability, it must ensure political power was firmly held by patriots. “Anti-China forces who seek to destabilise Hong Kong must be resolutely excluded from the administrative structure,” Xia said. Acknowledging Xia’s comments in his blog, Lee said the coming polls were key to fully implementing the principles of “one country, two systems” and patriots ruling Hong Kong. He also listed some of the “negative” behaviours revealing a prospective candidate’s failure to meet the necessary standards for embracing the Basic Law and displaying loyalty. Those included advocating Hong Kong independence, seeking the intervention of foreign governments or organisations in the city’s affairs and using “illegal means” to force the chief executive to make policy changes, without elaborating on what might amount to criminality. Among the other acts on his list are indiscriminately opposing government proposals in a bid to threaten the normal operations of the administration or to force the chief executive to step down. He said the vetting committee would refer to the list as the basis for considering cases, but added the judgment process was not limited to the acts stipulated there. The committee held its first meeting this week, attended by constitutional affairs chief Erick Tsang Kwok-wai, security secretary Chris Tang Ping-keung and home affairs minister Caspar Tsui Ying-wai. A trio of pro-Beijing heavyweights – former justice secretary Elsie Leung Oi-sie, Legco ex-president Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai and former Chinese University president Lawrence Lau Juen-yee – were chosen as unofficial members of the committee. Meanwhile, Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah said her department would step up promotion of national identity among different sections of the community, enhancing their “correct” understanding of China’s constitution, the Basic Law and national security legislation. Cheng said the security law was necessary for realising the city’s potential for development, with responsibility for its full implementation shared by society as a whole.