Patten said this method violates the Basic Law which states that the election committee should be “broadly representative.” He notes that the committee’s membership comprise only 7 percent of the total Hong Kong electorate. Further, “its procedures seek to prevent the nomination of any candidates who may harbor democratic sympathies.” The power resides with the Hong Kong government to open up the nominating process for candidates.
Patten also raised the issue of the election of legislatures, which has been absent from the student’s demands. “It is surprising that 17 years after the handover of sovereignty from the United Kingdom to China, Hong Kong still does not have a directly elected legislature,” he said.
Patten said he has made several proposals since July that would broaden the electoral base of the election committee and modify the way the chief executive is elected, which were within the powers of Leung and his colleagues to implement, but they have not acted on any of them.
Bush said that a compromise was available in the spring and summer of this year on how to elect Hong Kong’s chief executive that would probably have ensured a “competitive election,” but the PRC’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee on Aug. 31st ignored these proposals. He thought it still might be feasible to obtain a competitive outcome within the narrow parameters that Beijing laid down.
Recommendation
Both Bush and Lagon fully support identical bills introduced Nov. 13 in the House of Representatives (H.R. 5696) and the Senate (S. 2922), by Rep. Smith and Sen. Brown, respectively. The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act amends the United States-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 to direct the Secretary of State to report to Congress on conditions in Hong Kong that are of U.S. interest, by March 31, 2015, and annually thereafter. The bills state that this report would include “the development of democratic institutions in Hong Kong.”
The last time this report was issued was in 2007. Reinstating reporting requirements would assist Congress in assessing progress in Hong Kong’s democracy.
Congress established in 2000 the Congressional Executive Commission on China (CECC) to investigate and encourage China’s compliance with international human rights standards and the rule of law in the People’s Republic of China. The Commission consists of nine members from the House of Representatives, nine from the Senate, and five senior Administration officials appointed by the President.
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