Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus says that Carrie Lam’s (林鄭月娥) victory in the Hong Kong chief executive elections shows that China’s “one country, two systems” framework is an empty promise, reports Taipei Times.
On March 26, Lam was elected Hong Kong’s chief executive, becoming the city's first female leader. She won a five-year term with 777 votes from a selection committee of 1,194 members and was seen as Beijing’s preferred candidate for the role.
The election bankrupted the “one country, two systems” framework and weakened the little confidence Taiwanese had in Beijing, said DPP Legislator Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡).
Fellow DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-chin (葉宜津) said, “The Hong Kong system shows that what ‘one country, two systems’ stipulates is fake democracy,” according to Taipei Times.
Zhang Dejiang (張德江), chairman of the National People’s Congress, in early February told Hong Kong business leaders and pro-establishment figures during a meeting in Shenzhen that Lam was indeed Beijing’s preferred candidate, reports South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Speaking to SCMP after the meeting, Chinese General Chamber of Commerce Chairman Jonathan Choi Koon-shum said it was “very clear” that Lam was his chamber’s pick to be Hong Kong’s next leader.
In her acceptance speech, Lam said, "Hong Kong, our home, is suffering from quite a serious divisiveness and has accumulated a lot of frustrations. My priority will be to heal the divide."
One day after Lam’s win, several leaders of the 2014 Occupy Central pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong received calls from police saying that they will be charged with “creating a nuisance in public places.”
Former student leaders of the Umbrella Movement expect large-scale political prosecutions to follow.
Read more:
Beijing’s Favored Candidate Wins in Hong Kong
Hong Kong Has a Controversial New Leader. What Happens Next?
'Large-Scale Political Prosecution' as Hong Kong Police Crack Down on Occupy Leaders
Editor: Edward White
