【Direct News Press】
Wang Chen, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, explained on Friday a draft decision on improving Hong Kong's electoral system.
There is a murmur in the field of public opinion in Hong Kong that the central government took the lead in improving Hong Kong's election system this time, without extensive consultation from all walks of life in Hong Kong.
In this regard, Fan Xulitai, former chairman of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, said in an exclusive interview with Qin Yue, a hong Kong correspondent of Shenzhen Satellite TV, that the responsibility and power for the development of Hong Kong's political system lies with the NPC and its Standing Committee, and the development of Hong Kong's political system is not a "matter of conversation" in Hong Kong. As for why the pro-democracy figures were not consulted, Fan Xulitai threw out a series of rhetorical questions: How many people in the opposition are not Hong Kong rioters? How many people have not done anything to harm Hong Kong? Have you not colluded with foreign forces to demand sanctions on Hong Kong? Fan Xulitai said bluntly: These people are not qualified to be consulted at all!
"If you don't want Hong Kong to be good at all, for the sake of your fake democracy and fake freedom, and you want to make the Hong Kong people unable to live and work in peace and contentment, are these people worth consulting?"
She also pointed out that the anti-China and chaotic Hong Kong elements want to destroy the entire structure, and what will be replaced after destroying this structure? There is no alternative, because they are mostly listening to the politicians in the United States and Britain.
"I'm sorry, I'm Chinese, I won't listen to them." She said.
Fan Xulitai believes that the central government has no way to retreat from improving Hong Kong's election system, and can only do so. If the country does not turn the tide, Hong Kong will fall into the abyss of disaster.
She was appointed as a Member of the Legislative Council of the British Government of Hong Kong in 1983, a Member of the Executive Council since 1989, and the first President of the Legislative Council of the HKSAR Government after the return of Hong Kong in 1997.
Years of experience in the political arena, through ups and downs, Fan Xulitai frankly said that in fact, many things can be seen from a historical perspective, and looking back at history, you can look back at what Hong Kong wanted back then, and what the Basic Law gave hong Kong. Now that the current situation in Hong Kong has deviated from the original meaning of the Basic Law, it is necessary to improve the election system in order to return to the original intention of "one country, two systems".
When it comes to the "system" in Hong Kong's "one country, two systems", Fan Xulitai believes that it is the economic system and the financial open system, and it is definitely not a political system. Because to change the political system, it needs to be confirmed by the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee before it can be implemented.
The following is a transcript of the interview, which we will continue to update in the coming days.
Qin Yue, Hong Kong correspondent of Shenzhen Satellite TV & Direct News: The NPC session will deliberate the motion of the "Decision of the National People's Congress on Improving the Election System in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Draft)", and Vice Chairman Wang Chen made an explanation this morning (5 July) to introduce the framework and deliberation process of the draft bill. First of all, how do you think that the central government will lead the improvement of Hong Kong's electoral system? What do you think of the claims of some hong kong media that they have not been widely consulted by all walks of life in Hong Kong?
Fan Xulitai, former chairman of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong: First of all, I want to make it clear that the responsibility and power for the development of Hong Kong's political system is the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee, which is clearly written in Article 31 of the Constitution, and Article 62 has a cooperative formulation. Therefore, we look at Annexes I and II of the Hong Kong Basic Law, the methods of electing the Chief Executive and the members of the Legislative Council, and if these methods are proposed in Hong Kong, they will be consulted locally in Hong Kong, and then they will go to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, and then the Standing Committee has the right to determine or file for the record. We must first see this relationship clearly, so the development of Hong Kong's political system is not a "matter of speech" in Hong Kong, and the power of the NPC and its Standing Committee is the power. To understand this relationship, why was it not proposed by Hong Kong to improve the electoral system this time? Because time is simply impossible to do, too late, the actual operation is also difficult.
In terms of time, the Hong Kong Legislative Council (election) will be held in September this year, which may be postponed, but the goal is to hope that a new seventh Legislative Council will be elected this year; in addition, the Election Commission will elect the Chief Executive in March next year. If the political reform plan is proposed by Hong Kong, it needs to be passed by two-thirds of the members of the Legislative Council, but there are fewer than two-thirds of the serving legislators, and opposition lawmakers have earlier collectively resigned, leaving only two members of the opposition camp in parliament. Therefore, Hong Kong itself can't do it, and the time is so tight, so the central government must help us, and fundamentally this is also the central authorities' right.
Why don't you ask us for advice on Hong Kong? I can say that it is true that not every Hong Kong person has been consulted, but there are many Hong Kong people who have raised their opinions. Last time in Shenzhen, Director Xia Baolong and relevant leaders met with a group of influential people in Hong Kong, and one way of saying it was: How do the pro-establishmentists consult? Why not consult the opposition? I would like to say that how many people in the opposition are not hong Kong rioters now? How many have not done anything that harms Hong Kong's prosperity and stability? Didn't he collude with foreign forces and ask the other side to sanction Hong Kong? These people are fundamentally ineligible to be consulted. Because you are not for the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong, you are for your own political purposes, and this political purpose was clearly stated by Tai Yaoting during the so-called "primary election" at that time, and it was also published in the newspaper "Ten Steps of Speculation", which pushed the regime of the SAR government under the cliff and wanted to hurt the central authorities together. So what else does consulting mean? These people are no longer people who want Hong Kong to prosper and be stable, nor do they have the heart to want our country to prosper, but they are being used by the peripheral forces and hegemony that want to rectify our country to mess up Hong Kong.
So some people say that there is no consultation, I want to ask them, where is their heart? If your heart is thinking that Hong Kong is good, there will be a lot of opportunities to put forward opinions in the future, because even after the NPC and its Standing Committee make a decision, they will need local legislation, and they will have the opportunity to make suggestions at that time. But if you don't want Hong Kong to be good at all, for your fake democracy, fake freedom, and want to make the Hong Kong people unable to live and work in peace and contentment, are these people worth consulting?
Now we have reached the situation of being pushed to the point where there is no way out, the central government has come to help Hong Kong, hoping to find some legislators who love the country and love Hong Kong, even if it is not obvious patriotism and love for Hong Kong, but at least you will not harm Hong Kong's interests. The Chief Executive also needs to be elected by an election committee that loves the country and Hong Kong, so the Chief Executive must also be patriotic and loves Hong Kong. There is no way back, only to do so. Predictably, at least I know that as far as "patriotism" is concerned, the Western countries led by the United States, especially the "Five Eyes Alliance", will definitely criticize and even use means to sanction certain people in our country and Hong Kong, or further restrict the space for our country to cooperate with them in trade, high technology, etc., but unfortunately, we have no way. Because if the country does not turn the tide, we will fall to the point of no return.
Qin Yue, Hong Kong correspondent of Shenzhen Satellite TV & Direct News: Hong Kong has experienced many electoral reforms before and after the reversion, and this time what is the help and significance of improving the election system at the central level for Hong Kong's long-term development?
Fan XuLitai, former president of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong: Hong Kong used to have a political system reform, and my own idea at that time was that I wanted our opposition to be a "loyal opposition." That is to say, although he opposes many of the government's practices and has many different views from the pro-establishment legislators, their ultimate goal is to hope that Hong Kong can prosper and stabilize. Therefore, in this situation, try to give them more opportunities to participate, hoping that they will understand that they are absolutely capable of making Hong Kong continue to prosper and stabilize, so that Hong Kong can develop better and stronger in accordance with the "one country, two systems" in the Basic Law.
But that hope was dashed. Because after the "black riot" incident occurred in the second half of 2019, we saw that many opposition legislators were very "tolerant" and "supported" those "black rioters", at the same time many of them went to the United States to ask the United States to sanction Hong Kong, and sanctioning Hong Kong is actually sanctioning Hong Kong's economic development. They are no longer qualified to be "loyal opponents", they are already outright "speculators". Therefore, to indulge them under such circumstances will only hurt the entire Hong Kong society, Hong Kong's economic development, and most importantly, hurt the hong Kong citizens' peace and contentment.
At the time of the "black riot", we saw it very clearly, they said that they were fighting for democracy, but anyone who disagreed with them beat you, burned you, and threw you with stones. They talk about "freedom" again, free speech, I have different opinions from you, I talk about my own political views, what is the problem? He was beaten again. After some of them won the election, there appeared a place that turned the whole district council into a politicized place, and when government officials went to send them information and answered their questions, they constantly insulted and insulted these government officials, which everyone saw and put on TV. If they think that is the right thing to do, then I don't think Hong Kong is suitable for this type of person to live at all.
Most importantly, we hope that Hong Kong will be prosperous and stable, that Hong Kong people can live and work in peace and contentment, and that Hong Kong's economy can develop normally, we cannot let these "speculators" continue to slow down the process in the Legislative Council. When they were in the Legislative Council, they saw some people's livelihood projects, the government wanted to allocate funds, they dragged to death; some governments wanted to build projects such as roads, bridges, etc., with these our economy can be more prosperous, but also dragged to death by them; many regulations and appropriations have been dragged to death. The election of the Chairman of the House Council for six months is not normal and perverse practice. The only reason is to destroy the entire architecture, and what will be replaced after destroying this architecture? There is no alternative, because their main thing is to listen to the politicians in the United States and Britain. Sorry, I'm Chinese, I won't listen to them.
Qin Yue, Hong Kong correspondent of Shenzhen Satellite TV & Direct News: Vice Chairman Wang Chen explained this morning the draft for improving Hong Kong's election system, among which it is very important to optimize the Election Committee.
Fan XuLitai, former chairman of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong: I think that in fact, the SAR government has put forward a plan now, that is, the members of the Election Commission and the members of the district council should take an oath. Because of the "false oath", I believe that the "speculation party" has no problem at all. If some people who support the "speculators" and support the US or British government to come to Hong Kong to talk about things, they may not have any behavior or speech to express their mentality, we call them "vegetarians". If these ordinary people are elected, they can also take an oath, but after taking the oath, when he wants to fulfill his legal responsibilities and choose the chief executive, he is likely to choose some people who are not patriotic and love Hong Kong. This is very problematic. So the oath alone is not enough, go one step further.
If we want to go one step further, how can we ensure that all the people who love the country and Hong Kong are in the composition of the Election Commission? I think so myself, there are many MEMBERS of the CPPCC National Committee in the Hong Kong SAR, and at present, the MEMBERS of the CPPCC National Committee themselves elect dozens of deputies to each other, and I hope that they can become ex officio members of the EC like hong Kong NPC deputies and members of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, that is to say, 100 to 200 (CPPCC members) can become members of the EC. These people should love the country and Hong Kong, and then there are some people who have made contributions in national organizations, one is the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, one is the All-China Women's Federation, and the other is the All-China Youth Federation, and these Hong Kong district members can also elect their representatives to participate in the Election Committee. Tam Wai Chu also said that these people know the development of the Greater Bay Area very well, which can help hong Kong and other cities in the Greater Bay Area to narrow the distance between Hong Kong and other cities in the Greater Bay Area, so that Hong Kong people have more opportunities to develop in the Greater Bay Area. The philosophy of these people should be the same as that of the chief executive they elected, so I have this advice.