Legislative Council election: Beijing, Hong Kong authorities issue slew of statements hitting back at foreign critics
- Beijing defended the poll as reflecting ‘Hong Kong’s mainstream public opinion of seeking stability’, and credited it with ‘kicking off a new era of quality democracy’
- Foreign governments had condemned the poll, which saw all but one Legco seat go to pro-establishment candidates, as devoid of ‘any meaningful political opposition’
The mostly Western governments had characterised Beijing’s “patriots-only” overhaul of the local electoral system in March as an unacceptable restriction of voter choice, with the governments of Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the United States jointly faulting Sunday’s poll for “severely” limiting the range of political views represented.
But in a statement issued on Monday night – one of five sent out by the central and local governments in the span of just 20 hours – a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry office in the city said “external defamation of the Legco election will backfire and Hong Kong’s transition to stability and prosperity is irreversible”.
“Under the new electoral system, the Legco election embraced its original mission of choosing the able and serving the people, minimised the internal rifts and pan-politicisation, and reflected Hong Kong’s mainstream public opinion of seeking stability and development, kicking off a new era of quality democracy in Hong Kong,” the statement said.
In a statement of its own issued on Tuesday morning, the Hong Kong government also defended the poll, which saw all but one of Legco’s 90 seats go to pro-establishment candidates.