Electoral overhaul a direct attack on autonomy and democratic processes, US says

The United States on Friday called China’s decision to overhaul the Hong Kong electoral system a direct attack on the city's autonomy and democratic processes and said Washington was working at “galvanizing collective action” against China's rights abuses.

On Thursday's, China's rubber-stamp legislature, the National People's Congress, approved a decision to tighten its increasingly authoritarian grip on Hong Kong by making changes to the electoral committee that chooses the city’s leader, giving it new power to nominate legislative candidates.

The measure, would further marginalize a democratic opposition decimated after Beijing imposed national security legislation following anti-government protests that caused chaos in Hong Kong in 2019.

The United States condemns China’s “continuing assault on democratic institutions in Hong Kong,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told a regular news briefing.

Price called Beijing’s moves “a direct attack on Hong Kong’s autonomy ... freedoms and the democratic processes.”

“If implemented these measures would drastically undermine Hong Kong democratic institutions,” he said.