As dozens of pro-China lawmakers in Hong Kong¡¯s legislature stood up in May to heap praise on a bill giving Beijing an effective veto over candidates in the city¡¯s elections, only one legislator condemned the move.
¡°Cronyism will be the primary prerequisite for this election,¡± said Cheng Chung-tai, by then the legislature¡¯s sole directly elected opposition member, after the others had either resigned or been removed. ¡°Corruption is bound to happen,¡± he told the assembly at the time.
By late August, Cheng had been stripped of his seat by the committee he had criticized, which ruled that he didn¡¯t ¡°genuinely uphold¡± the city¡¯s charter. Last week, he announced that his political party Civic Passion was dissolving.
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