Qiao Xiaoyang

Qiao Xiaoyang (born 1945) is the former chairman of the Hong Kong SAR Basic Law Committee of the 11th National People's Congress.[1]

Qiao Xiaoyang
乔晓阳
Chairman of the 11th HKSAR Basic Law Committee of the NPC
In office 2008–2013
Succeeded by	Li Fei
Personal details
Born	1945 (age 74–75) Hubei, China
Nationality	People's Republic of China
Political party	Communist Party of China
Alma mater	Beijing Language and Culture University
Occupation	Politician

Biography

Qiao was born in Hubei province in 1945.[1] He was graduated from the Beijing Language and Culture University and joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 1974.[1] He served as vice-chairman of the legislative affairs commission of the National People's Congress Standing Committee becoming 10th vice-chairman of the Law Committee in 2003.[1]

He was also member of the Hong Kong SAR Preparatory Committee and Macao SAR Preparatory Committee oversaw the transfer of the sovereignty of the two former colonies.[1]

He was appointed Chairman of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Basic Law Committee and Macao Special Administrative Region Basic Law Committee of the 11th National People's Congress.[1] He served as chairman of the HKSAR Basic Law Committee until 2013.

Chairman of HKSAR Basic Law Committee

He made a number of remarkable decisions and comments during his chairmanship of the HKSAR Basic Law Committee.

In April 2010, Qiao said the reason the Standing Committee in 2007 ruled that Hong Kong "may" and not "must" have universal suffrage for the 2017 chief executive and 2020 Legislative Council elections was because any change in electoral methods required approval by local lawmakers. He added that passage of the reform package would "create excellent conditions for universal suffrage in the future."[2] Instead of equal and universal right to vote, in June 2010 he further defined universal suffrage[3] with the restriction of taking into consideration Hong Kong’s legal status (as a non-independent state), being compatible with the executive-led political system, balancing the interests of different sectors of society, and being beneficial for the development of the city’s capitalist economy. Pan-democrats said Qiao's statement reinforced their concerns, as it offered only the right to vote rather than to stand and nominate others in an election, and paved the way for keeping functional constituencies indefinitely.[3]

On 24 March 2013, he stated that Chief Executive "candidates must be persons who love the country and love Hong Kong". He admitted that it would be difficult to define, but implied that the pan-democrats were unpatriotic, he said: "As long as they insist on confronting the central government, they cannot become the chief executive."[4] He also mentioned in his speech that “the nominating committee is in fact an organisation. The nomination of CE candidates by the nominating committee is a form of organisational nomination,[5] which could effectively screen out pro-democracy candidates when pro-Beijing camp have the majority in the nominating committee.

References

1. "Qiao Xiaoyang 乔晓阳". China Vitae.
2. Lee, Colleen (15 April 2010) "Qiao adds clout to reforms" Archived June 29, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, The Standard
3. Wong, Albert; Leung, Ambrose (8 June 2010). "Beijing offers definition of HK suffrag". South China Morning Post.
4. "Opponents of Beijing ineligible to be CE: top Chinese official". South China Morning Post. 25 March 2013.
5. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (2013). Methods for Selecting the Chief Executive in 2017 and for Forming the Legislative Council in 2016 Consultation Document (PDF). p. 3.