Hong Kong’s pro-democracy lawmakers have resigned en masse after Beijing authorized the city’s Chief Executive to remove legislators accused of violating the controversial National Security Law.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam put her new powers into effect almost immediately, booting four members from the Legislative Council who had already been disqualified from the next round of elections.
All the remaining pro-democracy lawmakers subsequently said they would resign together in a show of support for their colleagues, who “are being disqualified by the central government’s ruthless move,” said Wu Chi-wai, chairman of the Democratic Party.
Wednesday’s decision to cast out the four legislators came from the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress in Beijing, which said it wanted to safeguard Chinese sovereignty and ensure lawmakers honour their pledge of allegiance to the city and its laws.
For democracy advocates, however, the direct removal of lawmakers by Ms. Lam – whose position is appointed by Beijing – amounts to one of the most ominous moves to date by the Chinese government to dispatch the unique attributes of a city once proud of its freedoms.
“Today is the end of ‘one country, two systems,’” Mr. Wu said.
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Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne condemned China’s decision as “a further assault on Hong Kong’s high degree of freedoms.”
He accused the Chinese government of breaching its international obligations toward the city after its handover from Britain in 1997, and of narrowing Hong Kong’s “autonomy and the space for freedom of expression and public participation in governance.”
Beijing’s decision allows for the removal of lawmakers deemed to advocate or support Hong Kong independence, as well as those who refuse to recognize Chinese sovereignty over Hong Kong, who invite “interference” by foreign forces, or who commit “other acts endangering national security.”
Ms. Lam denied the removal of opposition lawmakers had turned the city’s governing body into a “rubber-stamp” legislature, akin to those that offer rote support to Communist Party mandates in Beijing.
“We, myself, welcome diverse opinions,” she said.
But, she said, Hong Kong could not allow lawmakers to continue to function after they “had been judged in accordance with the law that they could not fulfill the requirement.”
The expulsions drew searing criticism not just in Canada but elsewhere internationally – particularly in Britain, which handed Hong Kong over to Chinese control on the understanding that it would operate with a large degree of autonomy for at least 50 years.
Instead, the city has witnessed a rapid erosion of liberties, particularly since the imposition of the National Security Law this year. The law has been used to raid news organizations, arrest protesters, outlaw specific chants and give police wide latitude to conduct surveillance.
Now, its use to unseat legislators has dismantled one of the few remaining places in Hong Kong where Beijing’s authority could be challenged.
“The political rule that Hong Kong must be governed by patriots shall be firmly guarded,” said the Liaison Office, Beijing’s representative arm in Hong Kong.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, however, said Beijing’s “campaign to harass, stifle and disqualify democratic opposition tarnishes China’s international reputation and undermines Hong Kong’s long-term stability.”
What took place Wednesday “is yet another example of the Chinese Communist Party trampling on what is left of democracy in Hong Kong,” said Chris Patten, the former British governor of Hong Kong, in a statement.
Beijing’s actions “will turn Hong Kong’s legislature into little more than a rubber stamp composed of pro-Beijing acolytes, entirely unrepresentative of the people of Hong Kong,” said Benedict Rogers, a human-rights activist and member of the advisory board of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, in a statement.
He expressed concern Chinese control of the legislature may presage other actions.
“Beijing’s attempts to purge pro-democracy voices in Hong Kong will not stop at the doors of the Legislative Council chamber,” he said. “Now that Hong Kong’s highest democratic body has been reduced to little more than a puppet show, it will fix its sights on the judiciary.”
With a report from Associated Press
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