Beijing top man labels three as 'extremely bad'

Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, Benny Tai Yiu-ting and Joshua Wong Chi-fung should be punished harshly for their breach of the national security law and disqualified to run for any public position, Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office chief Xia Baolong has said.

Xia made the comments in a virtual summit by the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies on February 22, where he declared patriots should rule Hong Kong.

His full speech was published in the Bauhinia Magazine yesterday, in which he called media mogul Lai, Occupy Central leader Tai and young activist Wong - who are charged with national security offenses - "extremely bad ones" among the "anti-China elements aiming at causing chaos in Hong Kong."

Xia said the trio should not be eligible for public office and "harshly punished" for their illegal acts.

He said all such "anti-China elements" are easy to recognize as they deliberately undermined the operation of the SAR government and begged foreign forces to intervene in Hong Kong affairs.

He also said they attempted to use Hong Kong as a springboard to infiltrate and subvert the mainland, threatening national security and development interests.

Xia said the improvement of Hong Kong's electoral system should be carried out according to the actual situation in the city and cannot copy or adopt electoral systems of foreign countries.

Meanwhile, a number of participants in the two-day forum in Shenzhen on Hong Kong's electoral reform hope that the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference can participate more in ruling Hong Kong, former CPPCC Standing Committee member Chan Wing-kee said.

Chan was speaking after attending a seminar in Shenzhen where Beijing officials listened to opinions on electoral reform and the implementation of the "patriots ruling Hong Kong" principle.

He said the Election Committee can increase the role of the NPC and CPPCC, while the number of seats occupied by district councillors can be reduced or may not even require their participation in the Election Committee.

Pro-establishment lawmaker Priscilla Leung Mei-fun, who is also a member of the Basic Law Committee, said the "patriots ruling Hong Kong" principle should be reflected in education, politics and law.

The qualifications of candidates should not be decided by the returning officers, she said, and suggested a review committee be set up to decide whether the candidates are eligible for running in public office.