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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nEven before Friday, the city\u2019s pro-democracy opposition had accused the government of using social-distancing rules to clamp down on the protest movement that began more than a year ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier this week, amid reports that the vote might be delayed, Eddie Chu, a pro-democracy legislator running for re-election, said that China\u2019s ruling Communist Party was ordering \u201ca strategic retreat.\u201d They \u201cwant to avoid a potential devastating defeat\u201d in the election, he wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The explanation that Hong Kong must delay the vote because of the pandemic is likely to fall flat among the wider public, said Ma Ngok, an associate professor of political science at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think it will be seen as a kind of manipulation, that the government is afraid of losing the majority and that is why they postponed the election,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mrs. Lam denied that the decision had been influenced by political concerns. \u201cIt is purely on the basis of protecting the health and safety of the Hong Kong people and to ensure that the elections are held in a fair and open manner,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Hong Kong has been a world leader in controlling the coronavirus, in recent days it has seen its worst surge of infections yet, with more than 100 new cases reported daily for more than a week. The government has unfurled several new lockdown and social-distancing measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe face a dire situation in our fight against the virus,\u201d Mrs. Lam said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under Hong Kong law, an election can be delayed for up to 14 days if there is a \u201cdanger to public health or safety.\u201d But Mrs. Lam postponed the election until Sept. 5, 2021, under emergency powers that allow the chief executive to make any regulations considered to be \u201cdesirable in the public interest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those powers, which date to the British colonial era, were invoked last year when the government banned the wearing of masks in an effort to stem protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China\u2019s central government said it supported Mrs. Lam\u2019s decision to delay the election, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mrs. Lam acknowledged that the move created a \u201crather thorny issue\u201d under the Basic Law, Hong Kong\u2019s constitution, which limits the terms of Legislative Council members to four years \u2014 meaning that the current lawmakers\u2019 terms will soon expire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That matter will be referred to the standing committee of the National People\u2019s Congress in Beijing, which has the power to interpret the Basic Law, for a decision on how to deal with the gap, Xinhua reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The postponement will likely be met with criticism from the United States and other countries that have expressed sharp disapproval of China\u2019s tightening grip on Hong Kong. This month, President Trump said that because of the national security law, the United States would begin to curb its special treatment of Hong Kong and deal with it more in line with the rest of China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The elections \u201cmust proceed on time,\u201d Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday in a U.S. radio interview. \u201cThey must be held. The people of Hong Kong deserve to have their voice represented by the elected officials that they choose in those elections.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf they destroy that, if they take that down, it will be another marker that will simply prove that the Chinese Communist Party has now made Hong Kong just another Communist-run city,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for China\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on Friday that the Hong Kong election was \u201ca local election in China and is purely China\u2019s internal affair.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The national security law targets activity that it describes as secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign powers. It has stirred concerns in Hong Kong because it allows mainland security services to operate openly in the city and makes some speech, such as advocating Hong Kong\u2019s independence, illegal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, in a sign that officials would strictly enforce the law, the police arrested four activists, ages 16 to 21, who were accused of supporting separatism in social media posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the next day, in barring the 12 opposition candidates, the Hong Kong government said that the grounds for disqualifying them included advocating for Hong Kong\u2019s independence or self-determination, soliciting intervention from foreign governments, expressing an objection in principle to the national security law Beijing imposed last month, or vowing to indiscriminately vote against government proposals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Opposition candidates say the moves suggested that pro-Beijing officials were concerned about a resounding defeat in the September election. Even establishment candidates have been quietly discussing the potential for a pan-democratic wave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2020\/07\/30\/world\/00hongkong-election3\/merlin_164951586_c31fbe0e-e303-4e0f-8ad0-c7998c38c9e4-articleLarge.jpg?w=696&ssl=1\")
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