Beijing's Liaison Office in HK slashes invalid 'civil referendum'

A spokesman with the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) said on Friday that any attempt to press the central government with so-called "civil disobedience movement" to make concessions on bottom line issues would fail.

The spokesman made the remark following Xinhua's request of a comment on an on-line "civil referendum" started on Friday in Hong Kong, in which three proposals on how the next chief executive should be elected through universal suffrage were offered to the public.

After Hong Kong's return to the motherland in 1997, the SAR's Basic Law has ruled that "the ultimate aim is the selection of the chief executive by universal suffrage upon nomination by a broadly representative nominating committee in accordance with democratic procedures."

China's top legislature has also promised that the SAR's chief executive could be elected through universal suffrage in 2017. The SAR government conducted a five-month public consultation for proposals and suggestions to the nomination and election procedures of the universal suffrage.

The so-called "civil referendum" was initiated by a local opposition organ "Occupy Central with Love and Peace," and each of the three proposals created by three social groups demands civil nomination, a candidate could be secured by endorsement of 1 percent of registered voters.

Following similar rebuffs on Friday by the State Council's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office and the SAR government, the liaison office's spokesman said that the "civil referendum" was "a political farce that overtly challenges the Basic Law."

According to the Basic Law, the nominating committee is obviously the only organ legitimate to nominate candidates during universal suffrage for the chief executive, the spokesman stressed.

Those three proposals made by some social groups did not conform to regulations set by the Basic Law since they excluded or impaired the nominating power of the nominating committee with the idea of "civil nomination," he said.

The spokesman said that "civil referendum" was a constitutional system with specific political and juristic meanings which required mandate by a country's constitutional law, and any so- called "civil referendum" within the Hong Kong SAR, a local administrative region of the country, did not coincide with Hong Kong's juridical status.

The spokesman finally stressed the fundamental principles and bottom line requirements of the central government to deal with the universal suffrage. Firstly, the method for universal suffrage of the Chief Executive should conform to the Hong Kong SAR's Basic Law and the top legislature's related decisions.

Secondly, the method should conform to Hong Kong's actual situation, and thirdly the chief executive to be elected must be a person who loves the country and Hong Kong.

The spokesman said that the central government believed all circles in Hong Kong will continue to deepen the discussion of different proposals to the universal suffrage with a rational attitude on basis of the Basic Law so as to build consensus toward the objective of achieving the universal suffrage in 2017.