Patriotism: The halo for electoral candidates

With local elections looming just around the corner in September and December, preparations are now taking place for candidates to declare their loyalty to Hong Kong to pass the registrar’s test for eligibility.

The elections have been dubbed the “patriots only elections” which has been mocked by the western media as a dubious requirement to keep any opposition out of local politics.

Western media mock the “Patriots only” elections, suggesting that Beijing is controlling the local elections by opposing any potential candidate who is contrary to its liking.

But this was refuted in 2021 when then Chief Executive Carrie Lam said that as long as the candidates can show allegiance to Hong Kong, uphold the Basic Law and pass national security checks, they will be permitted to run for election.

"For people who hold different political beliefs, who are more inclined towards more democracy, or who are more conservative, who belong to the left or belong to the right, as long as they meet this very fundamental and basic requirement, I don't see why they could not run for election," she said.

Every country has patriots, particularly on local and federal governments. A recent YouGov survey on globalization and national sentiments on how people in 19 countries view their own nation, placed the USA top of the list.

But the survey is wrong. The USA is no longer a patriot state, but one of nationalism which implies a sense of superiority and prioritizes one’s nation above all others. It is at the top of a hierarchy of nations. According to various definitions, nationalism looks down on other nations, is often aggressive or exclusive and can cause division or conflict. Patriotism, on the other hand, respects other nations, is positive and inclusive and builds harmony.

By these definitions, Hong Kong/China is definitely patriotic.

In the west, patriotism is taken for granted; it has been around for hundreds of years and is firmly embedded in local folklore. But for Hong Kong it is something relatively new, making it vulnerable to the influence of foreign forces hellbent on breaking its successful one country two systems of administration.

Prior to the 2021 elections, the US propaganda agency National Endowment for Democracy (NED) was firmly entrenched in Hong Kong with the sole objective of destroying the unique administration system. It was seen as China’s tool to reunite with Taiwan; if it works in Hong Kong, it can work anywhere. But the US plan is to use Taiwan as a base for its military arsenal on the doorstep of the mainland, as it has done in Japan and the Philippines. In the eyes of the US, the one country, two systems principle cannot succeed.

The NED instilled distrust of the administration with the universities, legislators, trade unions, vulnerable school children, weak-kneed activists, the media and others, culminating in the bloody riots of 2019. Action was needed. A legal framework was established with the national security laws which gave the police power to arrest suspects on charges closely aligned to traitors. Numerous trials are continuing, while the government maintains its vigilance to ensure non-patriots don’t infiltrate the election committee or the legislature to disrupt the smooth running of Hong Kong.

With change came enlargement of the Election Committee (EC) and the Legislative Council. The EC, Hong Kong’s electoral college similar to the US’s which elects its president, was established under the Basic Law to elect the Chief Executive of Hong Kong. It grew from 800 members in 1998 to 1500 members today. [The US electoral college has only 500 members to elect its president]. Among its members are members of the district fight crime and district fire safety committees, the true patriots of Hong Kong who not only love their territory but are also prepared to service it in a voluntary position. Other members of the EC include architects and planners, Chinese medical practitioners, universities and schools, engineers in their various fields, medical and health specialists, social welfare, sports, performing arts and publications, technology and innovation, religious bodies etc.

Many will be returned uncontested in the September 7 elections because they have already been chosen by their respective bodies. However, 28 candidates will compete for 21 seats from 6 contested sub-sectors including commercial, architectural, technology, labour, the representatives of the area committees of the district fight crime and fire safety committees of Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories.

Then, at the end of the year, some 90 members will be voted in the Legislative Council Elections which will include 40 members from the election committee, 30 to be returned by functional constituencies and 20 by geographic constituencies. All are patriots who love Hong Kong for what it is, for what it has achieved, and with the full knowledge that together they made Hong Kong prosper to be the international city it is.

Mark Pinkstone

** The blog article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not represent the position of our company. **

Hong Kong is facing a dilemma as more locals are spending their dollars outside of the city than what the visitors are bringing in.

Relaxed visa/permit restrictions for locals and foreign residents alike is making it easier for travel to the mainland while inbound traffic crossing the boundary is low budget and spending less on accommodation and food.

Tourism is an important pillar for Hong Kong’s economy. In pre-COVID times, tourism accounted for about four per cent of the territory’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provided for about six per cent of total employment.

In Hong Kong’s heydays, the city saw about 65 million tourists in 2018, of which 51 million came from the mainland. It was boom time for retailers and restaurants. Long queues of mainland shoppers would line the streets along Canton Road and elsewhere waiting to buy luxury items from Gucci, Prada, Tiffany’s and other high-end stores which set up shop in Hong Kong to tap this lucrative market.

Today many restaurants and retail outlets are closing down, especially in the boundary towns of Sheung Shui and Yuen Long. The market is no longer there, and high rental costs make it almost impossible to survive.

During the 2025/2026 festive season, Hong Kong saw a 25.6 per cent rise in inbound trips on New Year’s Day 2026 (664,338 trips), but this was still countered by a massive 515,954 outbound exits on the same day.

Winston Yeung, chair of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants & Related Trades, told local media that business was sluggish during the Christmas holiday, with some restaurant owners calling it “the slowest business at Christmas over the past 10 years.”

Unfortunately, the local market is not propping up the tourism outlets. Instead, the locals are traveling in large numbers to Shenzhen and Macau and other parts of China for day trips or extended holidays, thereby providing a leakage in the local economy.

While Hong Kong received more than an estimated 45 million visitors last year, more than about 100 million departures were recorded by the Immigration Department of locals leaving Hong Kong by plane, train or bus mainly to the mainland (75 per cent), and to other major Asian destinations.

Hong Kong has 320 hotels offering 92,907 rooms, according to the Hong Kong Tourism Board. Despite mainlanders’ choice of more budget accommodation, occupancy rates for the hotel industry remained high at 88 per cent last year. The major hotels are not affected by the change in mainlanders’ preferences as they rely more on the affluent international tourist, visiting Hong Kong for business, conventions or holidays.

Property developer, Caldwell Banker Richard Ellis (CBRE) says Hong Kong’s hospitality market currently presents various investment-ready assets including rare investment opportunities for upper upscale and luxury hotels. These high-end properties are particularly attractive due to their resilience, as they are less reliant on Chinese group travelers and enjoy sustained spending power among affluent individual travelers and international visitors. This makes them attractive for investors seeking stable returns in a dynamic market.

To encourage locals to spend more at home and at the same time provide a bonus for tourists, Hong Kong has organised a series of mega events, many held in the new sports stadium on the site of the old Kai Tak airport in Kowloon. Traditional events in 2026 will include the French May Arts festival in March, Hong Kong Book Fair in July, Hong Kong performing Arts Expo in October, the World Snooker Grand Prix in February, and, of course, the international dragon boat races in June.

Blockbusters will include BlackPink World tour in January, the Hong Kong marathon, which draws in runners and their supports from around the world, and the Hong Kong Tennis Open also in January.

That is good for the inbound and outbound tourists alike. But more needs to be done to tip the tourism scales to a surplus for Hong Kong’s economy to grow at a faster pace. As the saying goes charity starts at home, so it is up to us as local residents who have reaped the benefits of the city to spend more in local restaurants and retail outlets than spend it elsewhere. Support local enterprises. After all, the restaurants in Hong Kong are ranked among the best in the world and are tax free as against a value-added tax applied to restaurants and shops in the mainland.