People who advocate Hong Kong independence are in violation of the territory’s laws and China’s constitution, and are not qualified to stand for public office, the Chinese Communist Party’s top newspaper said yesterday.
The comments in the People’s Daily came ahead of what is expected to effectively be a ruling by Beijing on the fate of two newly elected Hong Kong legislators, Yau Wai-ching (游蕙禎) and Sixtus “Baggio” Leung (梁頌恆) of the Youngspiration party, who last month pledged allegiance to the “Hong Kong nation” and displayed a “Hong Kong is not China” banner when they attempted to take office.
Britain returned Hong Kong to Chinese control in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” formula that gave the territory wide-ranging autonomy, including judicial freedom.
Photo: Reuters
The oath-taking incident made waves in the former colony, where the topic of independence from China was once regarded as taboo, but has come to the fore since months of pro-democracy protests in 2014 failed to secure any concessions from Beijing.
The Xinhua news agency yesterday said that leaders of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s parliament, had begun to review a “draft interpretation” of part of Hong Kong’s Basic Law over the weekend. The article requires Hong Kong legislators and other officials to swear allegiance to “the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China” when assuming office.
The parliamentary meeting ends tomorrow, Xinhua said.
The People’s Daily editorial said calls for independence by the Hong Kong lawmakers-elect and others were an insult to China and a violation of the national constitution and the Basic Law.
Such action “seriously touches the bottom line of ‘one country, two systems,’ endangers national unity, territorial integrity and national security, jeopardizes the nation’s core interests and the basic interests of the majority of Hong Kong residents, and is vile in nature,” it said.
“The heart of the issue is that anyone who splits the nation or promotes ‘Hong Kong independence’ is directly violating the constitution, the Basic Law and related Hong Kong laws, and is unqualified to stand for election or hold public office provided for in the Basic Law,” the newspaper added.
An interpretation of the Basic Law by the NPC Standing Committee would be completely legal, “extremely timely, extremely necessary, of great importance and have far-reaching effect,” it said.
The NPC Standing Committee has interpreted the Basic Law four times since 1997, including once when neither the territory government nor its courts requested it.
After the abortive swearing-in of Yau and Leung, Hong Kong’s chief executive filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction to prevent another ceremony for them taking place.
Hong Kong’s High Court struck down that request, but approved a judicial review of the pair’s membership of the legislature.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)