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China Warns Weekend Vote May Have Violated Hong Kong's New National Security
Law

VOA News

   China is warning the recent vote by pro-democracy parties in Hong Kong
   to choose candidates for the upcoming parliamentary elections there may
   have violated the new national security law imposed on the financial
   hub.

   More than 600,000 Hong Kongers flocked to some 250 polling stations to
   cast ballots to select the strongest pro-democracy candidates to
   contest pro-Beijing candidates in September's Legislative Council
   elections, defying earlier warnings fromErick Tsang Kwok-Wai, secretary
   for constitutional and mainland affairs,that the vote might run afoul
   of the national security law.

   A statement issued Monday by the Liaison Office, which represents the
   mainland Chinese government in Hong Kong, called the primary vote "a
   serious provocation to the current electoral system." The statement
   also criticized the efforts of the vote's organizers, specifically
   longtime pro-democracy activist Benny Tai, as an attempt "to seizethe
   power of governance in Hong Kong and stage the Hong Kong version of a
   'color revolution.'"

   The term is used to describe popular protest movements around the world
   that have swept a government from power.

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