The system of Hong Kong's district councils will be completely changed. Directly elected seats will be greatly reduced from 90% to 20%. The appointment system will be greatly increased, following the "full implementation of patriots governing Hong Kong" in the Legislative Council.
Following the chief executive and the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, the district council election system will be completely changed. The Hong Kong government announced that the number of directly elected district councilors has dropped from 90% to the lowest 20% in history, and they have been largely replaced by appointments and indirect elections; the chairman of the district councils has been replaced by the District Commissioner, and the qualification review and internal monitoring system have been introduced. Patriots rule Hong Kong." Many scholars pointed out that it reflects the great regression of democracy in Hong Kong, which is "worse than the Hong Kong British period." Many incumbent councilors from pan-dwelling districts expressed that they "may not run for election" because "it is more difficult and meaningless", and they also pointed out that the new election is more "involved" and "compared with background, relationship, and financial resources" rather than performance and public opinion, greatly weakening acceptance and public confidence.
Hong Kong Chief Executive: Prevent District Council from becoming a place of "black violence and speculation"
Taking advantage of the conclusion of the current district council, Hong Kong Chief Executive Lee Ka-chao led the responsible officials to hold a press conference at 3:30 p.m. The principle of governing Hong Kong" and "full expression of administrative leadership" to prevent the District Council from becoming a place of "black violence and speculation".
In the future, district councils will undergo "major surgery", specifically including, following the Legislative Council, adding multiple "entry gates" thresholds. All candidates must pass the qualification review of the "District Council Qualification Committee" chaired by the Chief Secretary for Administration to meet national security requirements.
In addition, the number of district council seats will be reduced from 479 to 470, which will be divided into three categories, including appointed members, the mutual elections of the "three councils" appointed by the government, and direct elections by the people. 90% of directly elected seats dropped to 20%, the lowest in history. Candidates for the "Three Councils" sector in detail must be nominated by three members from each of the "Three Councils" in the district, namely the Regional Divisional Committee, the Regional Fire Prevention Committee, and the Regional Crime Fighting Committee. Those who participate in direct elections have the highest requirements. In addition to three nominations from each of the "three associations", they must also be nominated by no less than 50 voters in the electoral district. The elected candidates are selected by the "two-seat single-vote system", that is, each voter can only cast one vote, and the two people with the most votes are elected.
In addition, the existing 27 ex officio seats on rural committees in District Councils will be retained.
Regarding the fact that the democratic elements of the new district council elections have been cut and cannot reflect public opinion, Li Jiachao said that it is determined according to the actual situation in Hong Kong.
Li Jiachao said: In the past, we went on the wrong path. Some people who promoted Hong Kong independence, promoted black riots, and solicited speculation entered the district councils. The chaos that once occurred was almost on the edge of a cliff, endangering national security. I will not allow district councilors to damage the overall interests of Hong Kong and grab any citizen to jump off a cliff.
Commentary: "Firmly control and govern Hong Kong" to "tight water"
Liu Ruishao, a current affairs commentator, analyzed to our station that it reflects that the CCP wants to "firmly control and govern Hong Kong" and strive to achieve "watertightness". In recent years, Hong Kong's electoral system has been changed and it has become "mainlandized", leaving only a very small number of voting opportunities for the people. , to demonstrate that "Hong Kong has democracy", the essence is far from citizens' understanding of democracy.
Chairman of the Democratic Party, Law Kin-hee, was "very disappointed" with the electoral system for the new district councils. He said that the democratic elements and the functions that the district councils can perform are lower than expected, but the threshold for nomination has increased significantly. Will you run for election?
Democrats: The new electoral system reflects Hong Kong's great retrogression of democracy
Chen Zhanjun, the convener of the "Tseung Kwan O People's Livelihood Concern Group" who has participated in the election for many times, told this station that as the Hong Kong government will merge a large number of constituencies, the 452 district council constituencies originally divided into 18 districts in Hong Kong will be reduced to 44. Asking "one person to vote against more than 100,000 people" is tantamount to "electing a small Legislative Council". Moreover, the new electoral system itself is unfair. Candidates or people with different positions "seek" nominations. He described the new electoral system as absurd, reflecting the great regression of Hong Kong's democracy, "worse than Hong Kong's British era." He also expressed his intention to run for election.
Chen Zhanjun said: I didn't expect such a small number of seats to be directly elected. Regardless of the nomination threshold, a constituency is so large that one person is in charge of an area larger than a subway station. There are only 2 (popularly elected) councilors in a constituency. Adding one constituency equals the original 10 constituencies. It is technically impossible, and at least financially 100,000, excluding losses, and the recognition is so low.
Chen Zhanjun also pointed out that the new system is even more absurd. "Not only are our own people fighting against our own people", but we may even "seek" nominations from former opponents, losers, or people with different positions.
Incumbent pan-popular district councilor: Successors are planning to give up running for election
The government has recently "released" news about election reforms. Many current district councilors from the pan-democratic camp have expressed to the Hong Kong media that they have no intention of running for election. Among them, Mak Run-pei, the chairman of the Sha Tin District Council for more than 10 years, told this station that he had publicly stated two years ago that he would not seek re-election and was training successors. intends to drop the election.
Mai Runpei said: The successors I have trained for many years cannot be selected because they feel lost and out of reach for the restructuring.
Mai Runpei pointed out that the problem is not only that the qualification threshold has been raised, but that the democratic element has been reduced, and the election has become more "involved" and changed to "compare background, relationship, and financial resources" instead of performance and public opinion.
Mai Runpei said: First, you have good community relations, and second, you must have huge resources to support. In the past, district councilors emphasized that if you serve the public well and the district workers do a thorough job, you can be elected and become a representative of public opinion. Now this meaning is completely distorted. In the past, citizens hoped to monitor the government, and the elected district councilors were used as a bridge for monitoring and communication, but the government personally destroyed this bridge. Even if you do well, you have to build relationships, take care of different stakeholders, and get support from the government, which discourages many people from voting.
Mai Runpei believes that even after being elected, the workload and pressure will increase even more than before. "And the salary has not increased, why choose?"
Mai Runpei said: The popularity of appointed members is often lower than that of directly elected members, and even the workload is less. Some appointed members do not even have offices. When people look for councilors, they will tend to vote for councilors. A district is so big. Take Sha Tin as an example. There are more than 600,000 people. There are only 8 elected councilors. Are you dead?
Mak also pointed out that even though the Hong Kong government said that the appointment of councilors would allow citizens to ask for help across districts, the original motivation for district councilors was the votes of the citizens. However, under the new system, district councilors will "serve the government more than the public", and citizens will even ask for help no way.
Mai Runpei said: Will the appointed MPs really fall into the district? There is so much to do, and so much to not do. Elected members must do well, because they must be responsible to the public. Appointment is not. To do your part well, you must be accountable to the government. I predict that in the future, the District Councils will have centralized power, and the District Councilors will escort the government and straighten out people's livelihood affairs.
Mai Runpei also questioned that the chairman of the district council will be replaced by the District Commissioner to control the discussion framework of the meeting, and a "District Governance Steering Committee" chaired by the Chief Secretary for Administration will be added to coordinate and supervise, and a top-down performance of duties will be introduced. The supervisory system is all about "regulating your own people, and your own people checking your own people", and the role of district councils is even more dwarfed.
What did the Chinese authorities learn from the collapse of the Soviet Union?
The Center for Strategic and International Studies, an American think tank, held an online seminar titled "China's Assessment of the Disintegration of the Soviet Union" on May 2, 2023
The Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank located in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, held an online seminar titled "China's Assessment of the Disintegration of the Soviet Union" on May 2. A number of participating scholars analyzed the evolution of China's evaluation of the Soviet Union's disintegration in the past 30 years, and discussed the reasons for China's strengthening of power concentration and ideological control in recent years.
The CCP learned through the disintegration of the Soviet Union: Do not want to collapse and focus on ideological issues
At the meeting, Tulane University political science professor and department chair Martin Dimitrov (Martin Dimitrov) talked about the reasons why the CCP is interested in the disintegration of the Soviet Union. "From my point of view, the collapse of the Soviet Union is a critical issue for the Chinese Communist Party because of course it doesn't want to collapse," he said.
He analyzed it from a historical perspective, saying that the series of events that took place in China, Eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union from 1989 to 1991 allowed the CCP to "learn a lesson to avoid a similar fate in the future." "Despite 30 years on, the relevance of this question has not faded. It remains a crucial issue as the Chinese Communist Party thinks about its own future," he said.
The democratic movement that took place in China in 1989 was violently suppressed by the authorities. In the same year, democratization took place in Eastern Europe. In 1991, the Soviet Union declared its disintegration. In the process, communist rule in Eastern Europe and Central Asia came to an end.
Jeremy Friedman, an associate professor of business administration at Harvard University, said that China's assessment of the collapse of the Soviet Union has changed over time. In the past, when China evaluated the disintegration of the Soviet Union, it explained it more from the Soviet Union's economic problems and bureaucratic problems. Now, the Chinese side is using ideological reasons to explain the disintegration of the Soviet Union, paying more attention to the so-called "evil attempt of the West in ideological manipulation", and using the term "peaceful evolution" to describe it, saying: "(From the perspective of China come) this goes hand in hand with the lack of greater emphasis on ideological control within China.”
What does the frequent use of the concepts of "historical nihilism" and "peaceful evolution" by the Chinese authorities mean?
He Yinan, an associate professor of international relations at Lehigh University, shared her views at the meeting, saying that the struggle between reformers and conservatives within the CCP has had an impact on China's domestic debate on how to run the country. Searching the databases of China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and the People's Daily revealed that the term "historical nihilism" was used in assessing the collapse of the Soviet Union from the time of Hu Jintao onwards, but only sporadically at that time, she said. After Xi Jinping came to power, the word began to be used frequently. He Yinan commented on Xi Jinping, saying: "His solution to this problem has always been fixed on a very simple logic, that is, the stronger the party's control over all aspects of Chinese society, the more power is concentrated in one' In the hands of a great leader, communism's rule can be extended the more. To secure its place at the top, the party must ensure what it calls 'ideological security'."
Chen Cheng, a professor of political science at the State University of New York at Albany, spoke at the meeting, saying that China's emphasis on the concept of "peaceful evolution" and the role of the so-called "fifth column" is very worrying. "It shows that the (Chinese) regime will continue to step up China's international propaganda efforts to counter Western ideology and narratives," she said. "Inside (China), I think it basically means continuing to step up efforts to protect people with foreign backgrounds and money. Control of organizations and individuals. It will strengthen counterintelligence efforts, as evidenced by the recent expansion of Chinese counterintelligence efforts. It will also increase cooperation with like-minded countries, such as Russia, to combat potential 'color revolutions'."
Marines, NSG commandos to be deployed for security in view of G20 meeting in Kashmir : India
These days the preparations for the G-20 meeting are going on in full swing in Srinagar. In view of security, there are plans to deploy Marine and NSG commandos here as well.
Srinagar:Marine and NSG commandos will be deployed to secure the venue of the G20 working group meeting in Kashmir later this month. This information has been given in a police release. It added that at a security review meeting here, Additional Director General of Police, Kashmir Zone, Vijay Kumar stressed the need for deployment of Marine commandos to provide strong security cover around the reservoirs.
It has been told that teams of National Security Guard (NSG) will be deployed at all places to counter the drones. The officials participating in the meeting reviewed the existing security arrangements and discussed possible measures to ensure the safety of all the participants and attendees during the event.
Kumar stressed the need for coordinated efforts to ensure foolproof security for the summit. The officials also discussed deployment of security personnel, traffic management and crowd control measures for the peaceful conduct of the summit. Kumar advised that additional security measures should be taken at sensitive places to avoid any untoward incident during the G20 summit.
Mehbooba Mufti is making these allegations
Describing the situation in Jammu and Kashmir as 'worse' than Guantanamo Bay, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti recently alleged that the preparation for the G-20 event in the union territory has started. Hundreds of local youths have been detained since. Mufti alleged that ever since the process of organizing the G20 has started, the process of arresting, harassing and interrogating the youth has also started. He said, "People are being called to the police station. Hundreds of youths from South Kashmir have been put in jails."
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