Dozens of local community politicians in Hong Kong yesterday swore a newly required loyalty oath to China, after hundreds of their colleagues quit in protest as authorities try to purge the territory of “unpatriotic” elements.
District councils are the only political office in Hong Kong where all seats are directly elected by residents.
They deal with everyday local issues like bus routes, trash collection and playgrounds, but they have also become a symbol of residents’ urge for a greater say in how Hong Kong is run.
Photo: REUTERS
In late 2019, toward the end of months of huge democracy protests, opposition candidates critical of China’s rule won landslide victories, hammering pro-Beijing candidates.
China has since responded with a crackdown on dissent, as well as an overhaul of the territory’s political system that reduces the number of directly elected officials and vets politicians for their perceived patriotism.
Yesterday, the first 24 councillors took the oath in a closed-door ceremony, the Hong Kong government said.
Similar ceremonies have been held for other sectors, including civil servants, government officials and lawmakers.
However, those who swear allegiance can still be disqualified. Under the new rules imposed by Beijing earlier this year, a national security committee can disqualify anyone deemed an “anti-China” element or disloyal.
“If we have doubts on certain councilors’ oath-taking, and could not completely trust whether they have pledged loyalty and allegiance, we will give them the opportunity to explain... If their oaths are invalid in the end, they will be disqualified,” Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) said earlier this week.
About 180 district councilors are expected to take oaths in the coming weeks, and those who refuse to attend would lose their seats.
However, a majority of the elected councilors have quit rather than adhere to the vetting process. So far, 260 councilors — more than half of the 452 elected members — have resigned.
Oath-taking “has become the regime’s tool to keep you on a leash. They want to eliminate the pro-democracy camp in Hong Kong,” said former Sai Kung District councilor Debby Chan (陳嘉琳), who resigned in July.
Since the 2019 protests, China has imposed a National Security Law that criminalized much dissent and began remolding Hong Kong in its own authoritarian image. Several district councilors are among the more than 60 people who have been charged with national security crimes, the vast majority for their political views.
In the latest prosecution, three leading members of the group behind Hong Kong’s annual Tiananmen vigils appeared in court.
On Thursday, police raided a museum they ran dedicated to the victims of Beijing’s deadly 1989 crackdown.
The three leaders were hit with a subversion charge after they refused to cooperate with a national security investigation.
Before her court appearance, barrister Chow Hang-tung (鄒幸彤), one of those charged, wrote on Facebook: “If they have written the script to eliminate our freedom, then obedience and cooperation will only help them reach their goal quicker and easier.”
In court, she told the judge that the charges were “absurd.”
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS