Beijing must intervene in a Hong Kong political dispute to deter advocates of independence for the territory, China’s top legislative panel said, calling their actions a threat to national security.
The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress said in a statement that Beijing could not afford to do nothing in the face of challenges in Hong Kong to China’s authority, the official Xinhua news agency reported late on Saturday.
The dispute in Hong Kong centers on a provocative display of anti-China sentiment by two pro-independence lawmakers, Sixtus “Baggio” Leung (梁頌恆) and Yau Wai-ching (游蕙禎) of the Youngspiration party, at their swearing-in ceremony last month.
The legislative panel said the two Hong Kong lawmakers’ words and actions “posed a grave threat to national sovereignty and security,” Xinhua said.
If such a situation were to persist, the committee said, it would hurt the interests of Hong Kong’s residents and the country’s progress.
“The central government cannot sit idly and do nothing,” it said.
The statement followed discussions by the top legislative panel on issuing an interpretation of an article in Hong Kong’s constitution, known as the Basic Law, that covers oaths taken by lawmakers.
Leung and Yau altered their oaths to insert a disparaging Japanese term for China. Displaying a flag reading “Hong Kong is not China,” they vowed to defend the “Hong Kong nation.”
Their oaths were ruled invalid, but attempts at a do-over have resulted in mayhem in the legislature’s weekly sessions.
Saturday’s comments indicated the panel intended to use its interpretation of the article to send a strong message against separatism — and could ultimately lead to the democratically elected lawmakers’ disqualification from office.
Such an outcome would be favorable to China’s Communist leaders, who are alarmed by the former British colony’s burgeoning independence movement, but is also likely to plunge their troubled relationship into fresh turmoil.
Maria Tam (譚惠珠), a Hong Kong deputy to the National People’s Congress, told reporters in Beijing on Saturday that the legislative panel has the “final say” on the dispute and that Hong Kong’s highest court would accept the panel’s interpretation as binding.
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