The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today vehemently objected to the European Union’s (EU) misleading comments on District Council (DC) reform and the skewed remarks about the city’s democratic development. It also requested that the EU clarify and apologise for the fallacies in its statement.

In a press release this evening, the Hong Kong SAR Government pointed out that neither the Sino-British Joint Declaration nor the Basic Law contains a single word stipulating that DCs or district organisations are formed through election; and to describe the DCs as part of the so-called democratic development is merely an unfounded and deliberate misrepresentation.

When the colonial government set up the District Boards in the 1980s, the boards’ electoral component was much smaller than that of the Hong Kong SAR Government’s DC reform proposal. However, the then European Community, ie the EU’s predecessor, did not voice any criticism against the British Government in this regard.

It is obvious that the EU’s statement was issued with a malicious intent to interfere in China’s internal affairs by using democracy as an excuse, the Hong Kong SAR Government highlighted.

It also recalled that since 2020, a number of sixth-term DC members acted against the functions of the DCs and even used them as a platform to challenge China’s sovereignty, advocate Hong Kong independence and endanger national security, adding that such institutional loopholes must be plugged in order to fully implement “patriots administering Hong Kong”. 

Urging the EU to immediate stop interfering in Hong Kong matters and disseminating lies, the Hong Kong SAR Government noted that the EU should understand carefully and justly the concept and necessity of the DC revamp.