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I Know What a Meaningful Election in Hong Kong Is. This Isn’t One

MundoAsia,

The signs and messages are everywhere: “Cast a vote for Hong Kong and yourself”. Candidates’ faces cover the pavement and walls from the city center to stalls in the wet markets on its outskirts. Government-sponsored billboards calling to “improve electoral system, ensure patriots administering Hong Kong” abound.

Hong Kong and Chinese government officials have for weeks been urging the public to vote in this weekend’s legislative election. But this is not a typical free and fair election: It’s a selection process, thanks to an electoral overhaul with no meaningful participation from the opposition (not least because many are in jail).

The Chinese government wants this election to appear to be successful, as Beijing needs the facade of Hong Kong becoming more “democratic”.…  Seguir leyendo »

Members of the Civic Party at a news conference in Hong Kong on Thursday after 12 candidates were barred from running in the legislative election in September. The next day, the election was postponed. Credit Kin Cheung/Associated Press

MundoAsia, ,

And now, it’s election fraud.

The Chinese Communist Party’s onslaught against the rights and the freedoms of the Hong Kong people continues. On June 30, it imposed on the city a new national security law. Within hours the police arrested people simply for possessing banners that said “Hong Kong Independence”.

On Thursday, the Hong Kong authorities disqualified 12 candidates from the pro-democracy camp, including four sitting legislators, from running in the election for the Legislative Council, known as LegCo, scheduled for early September: They questioned the candidates’ sincerity in pledging allegiance to the government.

An official government statement listed “expressing an objection in principle” to the new national security law as one of the grounds for disqualification — adding, “There is no question of any political censorship, restriction of the freedom of speech or deprivation of the right to stand for elections as alleged by some members of the community”.…  Seguir leyendo »

A pro-democracy protester holds a yellow umbrella in front of Carrie Lam and her defeated opponents John Tsang and Woo Kwok-hing. Photo: Getty Images.

MundoAsia, ,

Carrie Lam, formerly number two in the Hong Kong government, was selected as the Special Administrative Region’s new chief executive on 26 March. What does the process and her selection say about Hong Kong’s political future?

  1. Elections for Hong Kong's top job are still within Beijing's control. Due to the failure of political reform proposals in 2015, Lam was elected on the basis of 777 votes from the 1,194 members of the Chief Executive Election Committee. This 'small-circle' process was essentially the same as that used since 1997 (the only change being the expansion of the committee from its initial size of 800).
…  Seguir leyendo »
Hong Kong's three leadership candidates, from left: John Tsang, Carrie Lam-Cheng Yuet-Ngor and Woo Kok-hing before facing off in their first televised debate in Hong Kong this month.

MundoAsia, ,

The more formidable challenger is John Tsang Chun-wah, Mr. Leung’s former finance secretary, whose folksy style and smooth P.R. skills contrast with Ms. Lam’s stern and strait-jacketed ways. Mr. Tsang has jokingly called the chief executive position a “thankless, rotten job.” His tickling likeness to the mustachioed Pringles character has earned him the endearing nickname Uncle Chips. Mr. Tsang’s platform promotes conciliation between the government and the various opposition forces, a popular view. He leads Ms. Lam by some 20 percentage points in many recent polls.

The pro-democracy camp, which has no credible candidate of its own but is eager to see Ms.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia, ,

It’s election season in Hong Kong. Candidates for the city’s top leadership position are busily campaigning, and TV and the newspapers are filled with reports about their doings.

Yet it’s a strange kind of election, and visitors from abroad could be forgiven for finding the whole thing a bit bewildering. In this race, the contenders don’t waste any time reaching out to the public by making promises or explaining platforms. Instead, the candidates schmooze behind closed doors with property tycoons, seasoned politicians, and representatives of professional bodies and trade associations. That’s because those are the sorts of people who make up the 1,194-member election committee that will select the city’s next chief executive on March 26.…  Seguir leyendo »

Protesters pushing against police officers outside the Chinese central government’s liaison office after thousands of people marched in Hong Kong this month. Credit Vincent Yu/Associated Press

MundoAsia, ,

Two months after tumultuous legislative elections, and two years after the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement paralyzed the city center, Hong Kong is in the throes of another great political crisis.

Last Monday, the Chinese government intervened in the territory’s political affairs in an unprecedented way. Brazenly exploiting a technicality, and to the extreme, it barred two young legislators-elect who advocate for greater freedoms for Hong Kong from taking their seats.

The night before, demonstrators had briefly turned the cramped area around Beijing’s Central Liaison Office in Hong Kong into a battleground reminiscent of the worst of the 2014 protests, replete with police batons and tear gas.…  Seguir leyendo »

Hong Kong and the Realities of China’s Rise

MundoAsia, , ,

I returned to my native Hong Kong in 1998 after more than two decades of working as a reporter in New York City. I was hired to start a journalism program at the University of Hong Kong, my alma mater, and train a new generation of reporters to tell the stories of Hong Kong, China and Asia. It was a big and timely beat.

Hong Kong was handed over to China after 156 years of British rule 10 months before I returned. In an ingenious stroke designed to reassure the international community and Hong Kong people, China’s paramount leader, Deng Xiaoping, devised the “one country, two systems” arrangement: Beijing would assume sovereignty, but Hong Kong would keep its rule of law and capitalist ways for 50 years.…  Seguir leyendo »

Localist political group Youngspiration candidate Yau Wai-ching campaigns during the Legislative Council election in Hong Kong on 4 September 2016. Photo by Getty Images.

MundoAsia,

It has been a tumultuous recent period in Hong Kong politics. Following the 79-day ‘occupy’ movement in autumn 2014 and the subsequent rejection of a political reform package in 2015, Sunday’s elections for Hong Kong’s Legislative Council (LegCo) represented an important moment for the territory. Tensions have been growing between Hong Kong and both the central government in Beijing and mainland Chinese economic and social influence in Hong Kong.

Understanding Hong Kong’s complex electoral system is important to interpreting the results.  Half of LegCo’s 70 seats come from geographical constituencies, with the other 35 from functional constituencies: 30 of these cover professional, social, and labour groups (for a list see here) with relatively small electorates, and five are selected by the rest of the electorate from district councilors using a list system with proportional representation.…  Seguir leyendo »

Protesters outside government headquarters in Hong Kong this month. Kin Cheung/Associated Press

MundoAsia, , ,

The run-up to the Sept. 4 election for Legislative Council is getting tense, and the governments of both Hong Kong and Beijing are watching with keen interest. For the first time, a crop of fresh-faced candidates who cut their political teeth during the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement in 2014 are hoping to bring to the lawmaking body their battle to emancipate Hong Kong from Beijing’s increasingly authoritarian control.

The activists, most of whom are in their 20s, no longer believe in the promises of the “one country, two systems” principle set out in the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution since Britain handed the territory back to China in 1997.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia, ,

For weeks now, Hong Kong has been captivated by the boisterous, no-holds-barred campaign for its next leader, and to an outsider it may even appear to be a normal, democratic contest.

The two main candidates’ positions have been publicly dissected and they’ve thrashed each other in highly viewed televised debates. The city’s press has done a good job of digging up dirt on the candidates, fueling public interest (or at least mockery) in the campaign that culminates Sunday.

But here is where the comparison to normal elections ends. Fifteen years after Hong Kong and its seven million citizens were handed by the British over to the Chinese, the chief executive — a fitting title for the leader of so wealthy and business-oriented a city — is still chosen by 1,200 electors (for various reasons, only 1,193 people on the committee are eligible to vote in this election).…  Seguir leyendo »