By Jerome A. Cohen
It has recently been reported that Beijing plans to “reform” Hong Kong’s election system, expanding the membership in the local legislature and the Election Committee that selects the Chief Executive in order to assure its control. This is obviously the end of the political democracy envisioned by One Country Two Systems as agreed in the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law. It is the comprehensive culmination of a piecemeal process that has been under way for some time. Hong Kong will still have a governmental system called 1C2S, but its content has now dramatically changed. The forms of government in HK will continue to be distinct from those on the Mainland but the substance will plainly be the same – the Chinese Communist Party will call the shots and its minions in HK will loyally implement this new manifestation of socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics and be rewarded as “patriots”.
This is not only a huge defeat for the people of HK but also a huge embarrassment to Xi Jinping and the CCP before the world. It is also implicit disrespect for one of Deng Xiaoping’s landmark achievements, which is consistent with other efforts by the Xi regime to downgrade Deng’s status.
Moreover, the Xi regime will not stop at transformation of the electoral system. It will next accelerate the efforts it has been making to rein in the courts and the legal profession. All branches of government must be brought to heel in a totalitarian system. And these “reforms”, of course, are only part of the broader effort to transform Hong Kong society through reshaping education from kindergarten through university, from dominating the media and via other means.