Hong Kong’s pro-democracy politicians would quit en masse if Beijing moves to disqualify any individual members of the Legislative Council, opposition lawmaker Fernando Cheung (張超雄) said in an interview.
The threat to resign comes after a report yesterday from HK01 that said China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee was expected to consider disqualifying four opposition members from the legislature as it begins a two-day meeting today.
The gatherings were likely to result in the disqualification of Dennis Kwok (郭榮鏗), Kwok Ka-ki (郭家麒), Kenneth Leung (梁繼昌) and Alvin Yeung (楊岳橋), the news site said, leaving the 70-seat Legislative Council with just 16 opposition lawmakers.
China has taken a series of unprecedented steps to intervene in the affairs of the former British colony since a wave of historically large and sometimes violent democracy protests gripped the territory last year.
Since June, the Chinese government has imposed a sweeping National Security Law and extended the terms of sitting lawmakers to allow the local government to delay local elections for a year.
Any move to disqualify elected lawmakers would underscore international concerns about Hong Kong’s autonomy just as US president-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office on a promise to defend democratic values around the world.
US President Donald Trump’s administration earlier this year leveled sanctions against 10 officials over their roles in curbing Hong Kong’s autonomy.
While the HK01 report did not specify the grounds for disqualification, the four lawmakers have been criticized by authorities for using delay tactics common in democratic legislatures around the world. All four had been previously barred from seeking re-election to the chamber, another tactic the government has increasingly used to silence its critics.
Hong Kong’s sole delegate to the NPC Standing Committee, Tam Yiu-chung (譚耀宗), warned that lawmakers who engage in such delay tactics “are not suitable” for public office, the South China Morning Post newspaper reported separately yesterday.
“It isn’t good to use various means to disrupt LegCo’s normal operation,” Tam said.
Such disqualifications raise new questions about the future of Hong Kong’s opposition, which has used the legislature as a platform to challenge Beijing’s agenda since the territory’s return to Chinese rule in 1997.
After several radical “localist” activists were among a record 29 opposition lawmakers elected in 2016, China handed down a ruling that led to the disqualification of a half dozen lawmakers.
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