Riigikogu Hong Kong support group does not recognize chief executive election

TALLINN –  The Hong Kong support group in the Riigikogu is calling on the Estonian parliament not to recognize the upcoming Hong Kong chief executive elections.

The Riigikogu Hong Kong support group does not recognize the results of the upcoming election of the chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, support group representative and Isamaa MP Tarmo Kruusimae said on Thursday. "The person receiving the most votes is not a legitimate representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, as there is only one candidate 'to choose from' and instead of the 7.4 million people of Hong Kong, the ones voting are a 1,461-member Election Committee appointed by approval from the central government of the People's Republic of China," he said.

According to Kruusimae, the elections, which have been postponed several times, are the most undemocratic since 1997, as the authorities of the People's Republic of China made changes to the electoral process in 2021. "These amendments resulted in moving further away from the principle of universal suffrage granted to the people of Hong Kong by Article 45 of the Basic Law of Hong Kong, drafted by the People's Republic of China. In addition, the Chinese Communist Party has nominated 300 members of the Election Committee loyal to the central government, including 190 members of the Chinese People's Congress, to secure a result suitable for the central government in the 1,461-member Election Committee," Kruusimae said.

According to him, in addition to the election of the chief executive, the procedure for the selection of the members of the Election Committee itself is generally undemocratic. "Those deciding over the composition of the Election Committee do not represent the actual voice of the people of Hong Kong. In 2020, the People's Republic of China implemented the National Security Act in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, which reduced the number of Election Committee voters by 97 percent, meaning that in 2016, 247,000 voters were eligible to elect members of the Election Committee, compared to only 7,800 voters this year," Kruusimae said.

"The Hong Kong support group is calling on the Riigikogu not to recognize the chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as the legitimate representative of the people of Hong Kong after the elections on May 8, 2022. While the person 'elected' is the chief executive of Hong Kong by name, but in reality the new chief executive is nothing more than a political official appointed and controlled by the People's Republic of China. Essentially, this has put an end to the existence of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as an autonomous political entity. In such a situation, the Government of the Republic of Estonia must suspend bilateral cooperation with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region at all levels," Kruusimae said.