City Beat | As Beijing overhauls Hong Kong’s electoral system, is the city reaping what it sowed?
- The year-long anti-government protests and street violence of 2019 finally broke the back of any remaining patience Beijing might have had
- But while the opposition bloc’s future remains uncertain, there are tougher challenges ahead for their pro-establishment rivals too
You reap what you sow. This must have been on Beijing’s mind when it forged ahead with a drastic overhaul of Hong Kong’s electoral system.
The central government is now taking steps to ensure that only “patriots” can rule Hong Kong, blocking those it deems to be posing threats to national security from entering the city’s political arena.
If that is the fate awaiting Hong Kong’s opposition politicians, such a sweeping reform also serves as a timely reminder of the many tougher challenges ahead for their rivals from the pro-establishment camp. Are they prepared enough to win the hearts and minds of a broader general public, since Beijing has concluded that the “majority” of Hongkongers are patriotic?
Beijing has done its part by setting the new rules of the game. Whether this means final curtains for the opposition bloc is one thing, but how Beijing’s chosen group is to step up to the plate and prove its competence is another.
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Two sessions: China’s parliament plans an overhaul of Hong Kong’s electoral system
The demise of one does not automatically entail a rosy future for the other without hard legwork. That is just common sense.
Critics have lamented Beijing’s decision as a major step backward for Hong Kong’s democratic development. But the hard reality is, regardless of the ups and downs of cross-border ties over almost 24 years now, the year-long anti-government protests and street violence of 2019 became the straw that finally broke the back of any remaining patience Beijing might have had. The Hong Kong government had to shelve the extradition bill which triggered this unprecedented crisis.
