Opinion | Watch how Hong Kong charts its own course on democracy
- US-led criticism of Hong Kong’s Legco election should not be taken seriously when the sustainability of American’s own democratic system is in question
- Beijing’s revamp of Hong Kong’s electoral system rightfully seeks to rid it of the Western concepts of political equality and polyarchy
Democracy is no doubt the centrepiece of Western nations’ moral high ground and underscores the US’ claim to lead the world. It has evolved over 2,000 years, from the days of the Greek city state of Athens, and has taken many forms.
The sustainability of America’s democratic system, however, is being seriously questioned by its own scholars of democracy as reaching “a moment of great peril and risk”. Since the US presidential election last year, “across state legislatures, Republicans have challenged the legitimacy of the 2020 US presidential election and altered election rules on party-line votes, with a clear intent to entrench minority rule”, they wrote in November last year in a joint letter urging Congress to pass the Freedom to Vote Act.