The UK Parliament and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) had invited Hong Kong’s Legislative Council (LegCo) to send representatives to attend the 2023 Westminster Seminar on Effective Parliaments, which is going to take place in March, and Carmen Kan Wai-mun and myself had been selected to attend the seminar on behalf of LegCo. However, at a meeting on Jan 26, the CPA UK Executive Committee decided to withdraw their invitation to Hong Kong LegCo members, citing a “deteriorating situation” and “serious erosion of political plurality and participation” in Hong Kong.
In my view, the decision made by the UK branch of the CPA was politically motivated. The invitation was extended to LegCo last November; since then, there have been no major changes to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s political system, the city’s legislative body is still diverse, and the HKSAR’s rule of law remains as robust as it was — as evidenced by the fact that the city still ranks highly in the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index. In the 2022 Index, Hong Kong attained sixth ranking in East Asia and the Pacific and 22nd out of 140 countries and jurisdictions worldwide. Obviously, the accusations that there is a “deteriorating situation” and “a serious erosion of political plurality and participation” in Hong Kong are totally unfounded; the event has been politicized; and the about-face of the CPA UK is part of the China-bashing campaign launched by anti-China Western politicians over recent years, intended to discredit Hong Kong’s enhanced electoral system adopted in 2021.
The decision was based on unfounded accusations and was part of the political machinations aimed at smearing Hong Kong’s enhanced political system. The farce will only help expose the political machinations against China and its HKSAR, and will not curb Hong Kong lawmakers’ capability to tell the true story of Hong Kong
One of the seminar’s objectives is for delegates to share knowledge and good practices with each other. If the UK branch of the CPA indeed thinks that the situation in Hong Kong has “deteriorated”, why don’t they take this opportunity to learn more about Hong Kong’s new electoral system through the participation of Hong Kong lawmakers before criticizing? Western politicians have always stressed the importance of listening to the people of Hong Kong. As a democratically elected representative who received more than 60,000 votes in the last election, I might not represent all Hong Kong residents, but I can at least represent a good portion of the city’s population. So why are they refusing to listen to our side of the story? Why is the UK Parliament so worried about Hong Kong LegCo members attending their seminar?
Also, according to the invitation, another objective of the event is to promote parliamentary democracy. However, throughout the 150-plus years of British rule in Hong Kong, the British parliamentary system was never adopted in Hong Kong, nor was democracy ever given to the people of Hong Kong until the final years of British rule. If they indeed care so much about “parliamentary democracy”, then why didn’t they promote it here when Hong Kong was still under British rule? It goes to show that, deep down, even they would admit that different societies need to develop different political systems in accordance with the sociopolitical circumstances and needs of those societies. This is exactly what Hong Kong has done — developed the city’s political and electoral systems based on the situation, and under the “one country, two systems” framework. Hong Kong’s democratic institutions have improved since electoral reform in 2021 and are working well for the city.
We condemn the CPA UK Executive Committee’s decision to rescind the invitation to Hong Kong legislators to attend the 2023 Westminster Seminar on Effective Parliaments. The decision was based on unfounded accusations and was part of the political machinations aimed at smearing Hong Kong’s enhanced political system. The farce will only help expose the political machinations against China and its HKSAR, and will not curb Hong Kong lawmakers’ capability to tell the true story of Hong Kong. I will continue to seek different opportunities to present to the world the true picture of China and its HKSAR in the capacity of a legislator.
The author is co-convener of China Retold, a Legislative Council member, and a member of the Central Committee of the New People’s Party.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.