At a time of strained relations with Europe, Russia needs economic and military alternatives, while Beijing uses the partnership to defy Trump and his trade policy. Their alliance is driven forward not least because of the West. China and Russia need each other and enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship. Putin and Xi have already met on over 30 occasions. Both sides declared that, thanks to Xi Jinping’s visit, Sino-Russian relations had reached a new height of the ‘strategic partnership.’ The official Chinese news agency Xinhua later reported that Xi named Putin as his best friend among other world leaders, someone who knows his very heart. “If they gave us a highly controlled system on day one, watch how we behave and slowly slowly moderate it, would’ve gotten universal suffrage probably much earlier,” he said, adding: “It’s going to be better from now on.When Xi Jinping was in Moscow for a two-day visit in June, Vladimir Putin held discussions with his Chinese counterpart lasting late into the night. The pro-establishment figure also said that he would rather have had this (the overhauled) system from the onset of the handover in 1997. “Why would they need any tighter ? They got national security bill, they have a election system, where there is a qualification review committee and a nominating process going on, what else do they want?” said Tien. Tien is also convinced that the Central government will not further tighten Beijing’s control over Hong Kong following the election overhaul. “If we had taken that, and we had elected a chief executive that is fully aware that, in order to get a second term, he or she needed to get on the good side of the people, I don’t think Carrie Lam would push through the extradition bill,” said the lawmaker. ![]() The decision sparked the Umbrella Movement, a 79-day long pro-democracy civil disobedience campaign during which thousands occupied roads around the LegCo and two other districts in Hong Kong. In 2014, the Standing Committee of the NPC issued a decision which stated that Hong Kong’s chief executive and Legislative Council candidates have to be nominated by a 1,200 people nomination committee before standing in elections. Looking back, the lawmaker said that if Hongkongers had accepted the political reform proposals in 2014, the chief executive elected would not have pushed for the extradition bill. ![]() In 2019, Tien was one of the few pro-establishment lawmakers who called for the withdrawal of the extradition bill and the setting up of an independent inquiry. Following the anti-extradition bill protests in 2019, Beijing introduced the national security law, criminalising subversion, secession, foreign interference and terrorist acts, which were broadly defined to include disruption to public transport and other infrastructure. The proposed election overhaul comes in the wake of Hong Kong’s most turbulent years since the handover. “Why can I not try to go for two more seats? I can go for two more seats in the election committee,” he said, describing the committee as a “microcosm” of Hong Kong. “What’s wrong with that?” Tien said, adding that he was also was not worried about the diminishing influence of directly elected lawmakers. Tien, who has been a geographical constituency legislative councillor since 2012, said that the new LegCo would mean that lawmakers from both constituencies would have to “lobby for the support” of the third sector. “The quality of debate – and I can say that not just on the pan-dem’s side, it’s the same on the pro-establishment side – the quality of debate is actually deteriorating,” he said, adding that the nomination requirement would allow the committee, acting as “a third party,” to see who is fit to run. The political veteran believes a lot of newcomers in the LegCo “offer very little. Tien says this will be “a very healthy exercise.” ![]() In addition to a third sector, under the proposed overhaul, all candidates running for the LegCo election will have to secure nominations from all five sectors. “We need a sector like that which can help balance the view, and also probably help the government push through some painful policies and reforms, but these people won’t go for the current kind of elections,” said Tien. Tien said at present, lawmakers elected in the geographical constituencies only care about short-term goals, while legislators in the functional constituencies are tied down to their respective sectors.Ī self-proclaimed “voice of reason”, Tien said that a third sector would bridge the gap between the different interests of the geographical and functional constituencies. Hong Kong's self-styled 'voice of reason' says Beijing-imposed electoral shake-up is 'the worst' things will get for the city - Hong Kong Free Press HKFP CloseĬamera: Ocean Tham/HKFP.
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