China News Service, Hong Kong, August 2 (Reporter Zeng Ping) The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government recently announced that it will postpone the 2020 Legislative Council general election for one year. Liu Zhaojia, vice chairman of the National Society for Hong Kong and Macau Studies and Emeritus Chair Professor of Sociology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said in an exclusive telephone interview with a reporter from China News Agency on August 2 that no responsible government can take risks and force elections.
Liu Zhaojia described that postponing the Legislative Council election is a very difficult decision for the SAR government. The reasons cited by the SAR government are very strong, including that the top priority is to prevent and fight the epidemic wholeheartedly, to ensure that the elections are held in a fair, open, and just manner, and they should be supported by most Hong Kong citizens.
In Liu Zhaojia’s view, a more important reason is: no one can guarantee that reluctantly holding elections on September 6 will really not lead to a pandemic or trigger a crisis, which will then bring down the Hong Kong medical system and cause a large number of Casualties. "Because of this huge uncertainty, it is impossible for any responsible government to take this risk." He said.
For some opponents who claimed that postponing the election involves political considerations, Liu Zhaojia believes that this view is untenable. According to his analysis, the opposition is currently severely divided internally and is dominated by radicals who advocate "soliciting speculation", and that extreme political propositions such as "soliciting speculation" are unlikely to win the support of most Hong Kong people. Furthermore, after more than a year of hardship, the sentiments of the people in Hong Kong may have changed. People abhor struggle and look forward to peace, hoping to control the epidemic, save the economy, and keep jobs. Therefore, the opposition may not have a chance to win this election.
Regarding foreign politicians criticizing the postponement of elections by the SAR government, Liu Zhaojia believes that this reflects the habitual double standards of Western politicians and does not need to be bothered. In fact, when the SAR government announced the postponement of the Legislative Council elections, there was no large-scale opposition in Hong Kong society.
Liu Zhaojia believes that the most important task of the SAR government is to properly handle the new crown pneumonia epidemic and deal with the economic downturn caused by the epidemic, job loss and other urgent livelihood issues related to the vital well-being of Hong Kong people. He mentioned that the entry into force of the Hong Kong National Security Law has severely hit the morale of the opposition and compressed their space for activities. The support given to the opposition by external forces will also decrease, because they have seen the determination of the central government to solve the problem.
"From a practical point of view, although external forces will still make use of the opposition, the hope they report will definitely decline." Liu Zhaojia said that external forces also know that the opposition's power in Hong Kong will continue to shrink, and in Hong Kong politics The territory is becoming marginalized, especially by radical opposition forces. (Finish)