Residents walk to a polling station in Sha Tin to vote in the 2021 Legislative Council General Election on Dec 19, 2021. (EDMOND TANG / CHINA DAILY)
Newly elected members of the Legislative Council on Tuesday decried the statement issued by the Five Eyes Alliance criticizing the 2021 LegCo election.
Brave Chan Yung, a Hong Kong deputy to the National People's Congress and lawmaker-elect, blasted the West for having double standards by smearing Hong Kong's just-concluded Legislative Council election and its political system.
The Five Eyes Alliance – namely the United States, Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand – issued the joint statement after the LegCo polls closed on Sunday.
Chan said the election had a more balanced and wider representation than those in the West.
Their democracies are flawed, entailing social turbulence and populism while Hong Kong, with systematic improvement, has gone from chaos to stability where residents in the city need not worry about street violence, he said. He added the election was held in an orderly and rational fashion.
Brave Chan Yung was responding to a joint statement issued by the Five Eyes Alliance – namely the United States, Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand – after the LegCo polls closed on Sunday
They are in no position to make such allegations against Hong Kong, he stressed.
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The West is unwilling to give up on meddling with Hong Kong's affairs after the central government's latest moves – introducing a national security law for Hong Kong and improving Hong Kong's electoral system, has kept foreign proxies out of Hong Kong's system, he said.
That's why they came down hard on the city's election, Chan added.
"We won't interfere in their democratic process." Chan said. "We hope that they will do the same."
Lawmaker-elect Dennis Leung Tsz-wing said the attempt by five Western countries to smear the LegCo election was futile.
Noting the deficiencies of Western-style democracy that have been further exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Leung said the facts prove the success of China’s democracy as being a more-resilient form of democracy.
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“The Western countries cannot solve their own problems, so they intend to hinder China’s development by interfering in the SAR’s affairs,” said Leung, lawmaker-elect of the labor functional constituency.
He said their attempt also proves the success of the revamped electoral system, which helped the city break free from the shackles of Western-style democracy and leap forward to a democratic development that better suits Hong Kong’s interests.
“With the nation as a strong backer, I believe Hong Kong will have a very bright future,” Leung said, pledging that all the 90 newly elected lawmakers will strive to improve Hong Kong people’s livelihood.