Beijing has called for vigilance against any attempts to jeopardise Hong Kongโs coming Legislative Council election, warning that local law enforcement agencies will not โsit back and do nothingโ in the face of such efforts.
The central governmentโs Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office and its national security arm in the city vowed to crack down on any disruptions to the election in separate warnings on Friday.
The comments coincided with the start of the two-week nomination period for the December 7 poll, with two of the cityโs largest political groups starting their promotional efforts and their leaders saying they were ready for the electoral challenge.
The Registration and Electoral Office said it had received 23 nomination forms for the poll โ 15 from geographical constituencies, four from functional constituencies and four from the Election Committee constituency.
A strongly worded commentary under the pen name โGang Ao Pingโ shared by the office urged the public to remain vigilant against any attempts by anti-China forces to disrupt the election, even though implementation of the national security law in 2020 in the wake of the previous yearโs social unrest and Beijingโs โpatriots-onlyโ electoral overhaul in 2021 had curbed such activities and maintained order.
โThe recent outlandish theories, such as the fabricated claims of โBeijing is interfering in the electionโ, the circulation of a so-called โblessing listโ, the smears against the performance of seventh-term lawmakers and vows to boycott the race, are similar to previous tactics,โ it said.