Hong Kong’s Democratic Party chairman Lo Kin-hei. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Hong Kong’s leader defended the rules for upcoming local elections as open and fair on October 31 after an electoral overhaul effectively barred the city’s remaining pro-democracy activists from joining the race.

The city’s largest pro-democracy party, the Democratic Party, will be absent in December’s district council election for the first time since its establishment in 1994. Party chair Lo Kin-hei said he and other members could not secure enough nominations under the new rules authorities introduced to ensure that “patriots administer Hong Kong.” Other smaller groups from the camp had the same problem.

Chief Executive John Lee said at a weekly news briefing that candidates have to respect the decisions of the people they sought nomination from. “It is up to you to ensure that you can convince the person you want to convince,” he said.

The district councils were the last major political representative bodies chosen by the public. Under the electoral overhaul, most directly elected seats in the municipal-level organisation have been eliminated.

The lack of participation from pan-democrats reflects the dwindling space for the city’s pro-democracy movement under a government crackdown on dissidents following the anti-government protests in 2019.

To enter the race, candidates have to secure endorsements from at least nine members of local committees that are packed with pro-government figures. Some pro-government politicians, including lawmaker Michael Tien, also said it was challenging for their groups to secure nominations.

Elections for the district council seats typically draw little international attention as the councilors mainly handled municipal matters, such as organising construction projects and ensuring that public facilities are in order. But the councils took on importance after the city’s pro-democracy camp won a landslide victory in the last poll at the height of the 2019 protests. The camp then hailed its strong gains in the race as a victory for the Hong Kong people.

A woman walks in heavy rain after Typhoon Saola moves away in Taipei, Taiwan, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AP

Chinese state media report that at least 121 passenger trains are suspending services in anticipation of the arrival of Typhoon Saola, while people in coastal areas of southern China were being warned to stay away from the coastline.

The suspensions on key lines running from north to south as well as on regional networks will begin on August 31 and continue through September 6, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

China’s National Meteorological Centre said Saola was moving toward the coast at a speed of about 15 kph (9 mph) and is due to make landfall on Friday afternoon in the southern province of Guangzhou with sustained winds of 119 kph (74 mph) and gusts of up to 220 kph (137 mph).

The storm will then travel west down the coast into the Guangxi region before curving south out to sea between Saturday night and Sunday morning, gradually weakening as it goes.

The weather centre has already issued a red alert for potentially destructive winds and possible flooding, with some areas expected to receive up to 200 millimetres (8 inches) of rain.

Other typical safety precautions include recalling fishing boats to port and moving people who work on coastal fish and shrimp farms further inland, but no figures on evacuations were immediately released.

As the storm moved closer to Hong Kong, the city’s leader, John Lee, said in a Facebook post that he had requested various government Departments to plan ahead and urged residents to take precautionary measures.

Many students were due to begin their new school year on Friday, and it was unclear whether they would be able to do so.

The Hong Kong Observatory warned of squally showers, strengthening winds and a possible storm surge in low-lying areas of the crowded financial centre.

It urged residents to avoid water sports and stay away from coastal areas. Saola passed just south of Taiwan on Wednesday before turning to mainland China, with the storm’s outer bands hitting the island’s southern cities with heavy rain and strong winds.

The typhoon also lashed the Philippines earlier this week, without any reports of casualties so far. However, in the northern part of the islands, low-lying villages were flooded and nearly 50,000 people displaced, including 35,000 villagers, who fled to government-run evacuation centres.

Seaports suspended inter-island ferry services due to rough seas, and more than a hundred houses were damaged.

Meanwhile, a second storm, Haikui, is brewing near Japan’s Ryukyu islands and will develop into a typhoon as it moves toward the Chinese coast, where it is expected to make landfall south of Shanghai on Sunday morning with sustained winds of 165 kph (102 mph).

The storms follow some of the heaviest rains and deadliest flooding in years across a wide swath of China, with scores killed, including in outlying mountainous parts of the capital Beijing.