A top Beijing official said on Friday that plans for electoral reform in Hong Kong to implement a security law amounting to a “combination of punches” to spark unrest in the southern city.
Hong Kong was shaken by massive and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in 2019 to protest Beijing’s encroachment.
Dozens of activists have been arrested since the Chinese government clamped down on the opposition and slapped road safety with the National Security Act.
On Thursday, it went to ensure only “patriots” were run in the city, when an annual rubber-stamp parliament voted for a sweeping change to Hong Kong’s electoral system – including powers to veto candidates.
The plan was quickly promoted by the US, European Union and Britain, the former colonial rulers of the city who assigned control of the territory to Beijing in 1997 under a special “one country, two systems” arrangement.
A Beijing official in Hong Kong policy told reporters on Friday that the “chaos” of recent years showed that the city’s electoral system “has obvious flaws and shortcomings”.
Along with the national security law, the move said Zhang Xiaoming of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, “a combination of punches, effectively manages the ongoing chaos”.
The problem in Hong Kong is a “political one”, he said, reiterating an allegation that outside forces are causing disruptions in the financial hub. “It is a contest between confiscation of power and combating seizure …” he said.
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