Beijing to ‘improve’ system for ruling Hong Kong, devise ‘legal weapons’ to counter foreign forces
- Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People’s Congress, pledges to ‘implement the legal system and enforcement mechanism’ by which the city could safeguard national security
- He also lauded Beijing’s ‘patriots-only’ overhaul of Hong Kong’s electoral system as having ‘heralded a new age in which the city’s prosperity and stability is secured’
Beijing will “improve” the system by which it rules Hong Kong, while safeguarding national security and devising “legal weapons” for countering foreign forces, the head of China’s legislature has said.
Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People’s Congress (NPC), vowed that the parliamentary body’s standing committee would “remain firm on key issues and political principles” as it planned for the use of “legal means in international struggle”.
The pledges were part of Li’s yearly report on the work of the NPC Standing Committee, presented during the legislature’s annual session in Beijing on Tuesday.
Analysts said the report underscored Beijing’s concerns about the need to supervise senior Hong Kong officials, nurture political talent and protect the city from being caught up in tensions between China and the West.
The subject of Hong Kong came up in the section of the report laying out what the standing committee would do in the coming year to implement the Chinese constitution.
“We will improve the system under which the central government exercises its comprehensive jurisdiction over the special administrative region, in accordance with the constitution and the Basic Law,” the report said, referring to the charters of China and Hong Kong, respectively.
“We will implement the legal system and enforcement mechanism under which the region safeguards national security, and improve the region’s electoral system.”
