Business, tech leaders welcome electoral changes

Business and technology sector leaders emerged from government briefings about Beijing’s overhaul of Hong Kong’s electoral system on Wednesday full of praise for the changes.

The president of the Information Technology Joint Council, Duncan Chiu, said the Technology and Innovation sub-sector on the election committee – formerly known as the Information Technology sub-sector – will be better represented, even though its number of seats in the committee will remain unchanged at 30.

“By embodying more associations in the technology sector, not just IT, we actually have more representation in the area,” he said.

Chiu added that they welcomed the decision to have “well-respected” local academics at mainland institutions – including former University of Hong Kong vice-chancellor Patrick Cheng and chemistry professor Henry Wong – nominate half of the 30 representatives on the committee.

Chinese Manufacturers’ Association president Allen Shi also said he welcomed the changes. Shi said he hoped the legislature will help improve the business environment now that it can operate more smoothly.

He said it’s reasonable that a newly added commercial sector lawmaker will be selected by Chinese enterprises instead of SMEs, as there are a growing number of mainland enterprises in the SAR.

Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng also met with members of the legal sector to explain the changes, which will see nine of the 30 members of the legal sub-sector nominated by local members of the China Law Society’s council.