According to The Telegraph, Regina Ip, convenor of the executive council, Hong Kong’s de facto cabinet, said democracy had failed in the territory and was alien to “Chinese tradition”.
Regina Ip claims that “the territory should be run by Chinese Communist Party supporters”, arguing that following the popular will is “dangerous”.
She also contended that people were selfish and “don’t vote for the common good”
Clearly confirming that its era of representative democracy is over, Ms Ip, one of Hong Kong’s leading politicians, stated that the island must be governed by supporters of the Chinese Communist Party rather than by popular mandate.
She made these comments during the trials of democracy campaigners who have been prosecuted under national security laws. This authoritarian legislation has criminalised many peaceful expressions of political opposition.
Speaking to The Times, Ip argued that “people don’t vote for the common good”. “People vote for whatever serves their interests. Just following the popular will is dangerous.”
Ip works in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council (LegCo) – a parliament from which all opponents of the government are excluded. Previously, Hong Kong was governed using a system of hybrid democracy.
This system was far from perfect. Even with the support of the majority of voters, pro-democracy parties never held a majority in LegCo. This was because a majority of “functional” seats were reserved for representatives of professional groups, who largely supported Beijing. However, opposition MPs did use their power to challenge and delay legislation.
These dissident voices have been silenced through regulations that permit only “patriots” — those who demonstrate a “love” as defined by the Chinese Communist Party — to participate in politics. Glasgow University-educated Ip indicated that these “directly elected rabble-rousers” would not return to the political process.
In 2019, over two million people took part in tumultuous demonstrations against Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing government. The protests were sparked by proposed changes to the law that many Hongkongers believed would undermine the “one country, two system” arrangement. This unique structure was designed to preserve its freedoms and autonomy after the handover from Britain in 1997.
The following year the protest movement was quelled by the combined effects of the coronavirus pandemic and Beijing’s imposition of a national security law. This legislation has been used to arrest 300 people, including 45 activists and former democratic politicians convicted in May after holding elections to choose candidates for LegCo. It has also been used to arrest Jimmy Lai, owner of the Apple Daily newspaper, which was forced to close in 2021.
Others have also been jailed for singing the protest song Glory to Hong Kong or wearing T-shirts with pro-democracy slogans. Shockingly, on Friday, Chan Pak-Yui, 22, who has autism, was convicted for booing and plugging his ears during the national anthem at a volleyball match.
Earlier this year, The FSU reported on the case of Sophia Huang Xueqin. Ms Huang was a prominent Chinese journalist who reported on #MeToo and the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests. She was jailed on spurious charges of “subversion against the state”.
Clearly, the civil liberties of HongKonger’s are in a perilous position. Just this year, a second security law was enacted, entrenching the CCPs crackdown on dissent. Nonetheless, John Lee, Hong Kong’s chief executive, has warned of the dangers of so-called “soft resistance”. This undefined term refers to expressions of discontent and defiance that are not illegal.
Reflecting on the changes in Hong Kong, Regina Ip contended “You cannot have a one-size-fits-all model, and our experiment with democracy failed in the past 20 years. It’s in China’s constitution that they are a one-party state. We were never asked to support the CCP. But as the ruling party, it’s a … political reality that you have to accept and support the CCP.
“Your model, the western model … you have to have competition, you have to have pluralism, you have to have diversity. That’s never the Chinese concept. That’s never part of the Chinese tradition.”
Responding to Ip’s argument, former leader of the Democratic Party, Emily Lau said: “There is nothing wrong with people voting for candidates who serve their interests, but they can also recognise political parties which serve the public interest.
“Beijing promised Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy and [that it] can elect the government by universal suffrage. That is an undertaking that Beijing has made to the Hong Kong people, hence they feel distressed and frustrated.” Ultimately, Ms Ip’s comments reflect the sorry state of free speech and democracy in Hong Kong, encapsulating the territories’ slide into Chinese control and totalitarianism.
