Indeed. The opinions of HK residents no longer matter. It doesn't matter if a candidate can somehow navigate the registration process without being labelled a "separatist" or "not respecting the Basic Law" and then get elected with 100% of the vote. The CCP can just say "don't like you" and immediately they will no longer be a lawmaker.
In some ways this is helpful. CCP apologists in Hong Kong can no longer pretend it's possible for critics of Beijing to participate in Hong Kong politics so long as they're "moderate". The mandate of HK legislators no longer comes from HK people but the CCP. The CCP can remove a legislator on a whim, and there's no judicial oversight. In that respect HK is now little different from mainland China, so people should stop pretending otherwise.
Hong Kong residents miscalculated massively when they created chaos last year. They were given so many perks and leeways for the last 22 years. But they were not happy with being part of China. They were not happy being Chinese. So, the moment came, the first thing they did was to put black ink on Chinese national emblem. That was the dividing that showed to China how much of a traitor hong kong has become.
That is the bottom line, Traitors to China simply cannot live in Chinese land. They can either get out or they live in jail. That's the only option. Hong Kongers have shown they worship the west more than they accept their own Chinese identity. So, China has put a line in the sand for them. The more they show anti-China behavior the more they will lose their freedoms.
Filibuster on Legco? Boom no more filibuster or get disqualified?
Primary on Legco election? Boom, all primaries illegal.
Any action that is anti-China will be dealt with heavily from now on, that is what Beijing has decided. If Hong kongers do not stop, then their fate will be worse than uyghurs in Xinjiang. So, its time for Hong Kongers to start becoming humble again. Because no matter how much westerners talk nice about them, they will not accept 8 million of them to migrate. So, they need to accept being Chinese and accept that their governance structure is different from the west and it is okay to be not like the west.
Once this fundamental understanding develops, I think there will be plenty of vibrant opposition in Hong Kong. But that opposition cannot be an anti-China pro-western opposition. You can have a different type of political divide. You can have a camp that supports big government vs a camp that supports less government. You can have political division based on social and cultural divides like religious practices, gay marriage and so on.
The fact Hong Kong politics is defined entirely by being pro or anti-China shows this type politics needs to be destroyed. China is now moving forward on this. In the future Hong Kong will have a different type of politics based on govt policies, not who is traitor and who is not.