Ban will set legal basis to combat separatism

Tony Kwok notes separatists are no less dangerous than triad groups the ordinance was created to fight

When the Hong Kong National Party was formed I wrote an article in this column (April 11, 2016) titled “Separatism will trigger violence” and urged the special administrative region government to take strong deterrent action against the party. I am pleased to note police have since conducted a most professional and meticulous investigation leading to the current proposed ban. The Security Bureau’s proposed action to ban the HKNP has one clear benefit. It brings all the hidden separatism forces in Hong Kong into the open.

Since the announcement of the proposed ban, opposition parties and their media supporters came out in force to protest the government action. On the face of it, they claimed they were against separatism but everybody can see separatism is their hidden agenda. This has become clear with the recent timely revelation by their former-insider-turned whistle blower that their political leaders and “Occupy Central” organizers have received secret donations from the United States. Clearly their current protest action was ordered by their American masters just when China and the US are at loggerheads over a fast-escalating trade war, and the US wants to use every means possible to create trouble in Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland.

But one would have thought they could come up with a more convincing argument against the ban. They are alleging the government threat to ban the party violates the Basic Law’s freedom of association and assembly guarantees! Clearly they have totally ignored or are ignorant of the fundamental legal principles which underpinned the government action here. The Societies Ordinance was created in 1949 with the stated objective “for the prohibition of the operation of certain societies and for matters related thereto”. Those “certain societies” referred to at that time were the then very prevalent triad societies. It bans triad societies as illegal and makes it an offense for anyone to claim membership or to participate in their meetings, which can incur a maximum three-year imprisonment for the first offender. Using the opposition parties’ logic, clearly this law must be an outrageous breach of freedom of association and assembly for the triad societies, but do any Hong Kong citizens find fault with this legislation? Apparently not!

Is the HKNP any less culpable than a triad society? Well, they claimed that its objective is to turn Hong Kong into an independent republic and its members will use whatever effective means, including violence, to realize their objective. With that in mind, one can’t help but draw a chilling parallel with Sinn Fein, an extremist political party created with the avowed goal of seeking independence for Northern Ireland from the sovereignty of the United Kingdom. It resorted to violence and, in collaboration with the extremist Irish Republican Army, launched terrorist attacks all over the UK for 30 years from 1960s to the 1990s, ending in a cease fire agreement in 1994 without achieving its goal. In the process, thousands of soldiers, police officers and innocent citizens, including children, were killed for a totally reprehensible cause. Thus it is easy to see how such a party with the stated goal of independence could create even more havoc in Hong Kong than a triad society. And yet certain opposition politicians are grossly downplaying their threat by treating it as merely an issue of freedom of association and assembly!

Some argue that separatism activists are in small numbers and have not yet instigated any violence and should therefore be tolerated. Apparently they are not familiar with the sudden rise of the terrorist group Islamic State through the clever manipulation of social media. And let us admit that most opposition political groups are quite adept at generating sympathy, if not support, through social media by distorting facts to fan discontent among the idealistic young people. Don’t forget they need only sow seeds of rebellion in just 1 percent of our population to quickly have a 70,000-strong “army”! The authorities are right to nip such a scenario in the bud rather than try to eradicate its gory aftermath.

In fact, a website operated by a group calling themselves “Hong Kong Independent Army” has been discovered by law-enforcement authorities, who also found the website has been openly dispensing bomb-making know-how! Indeed, in one case, self-proclaimed “Hong Kong Independence Society”members were found to be making smoke bombs and intended to launch terrorist attacks. They were convicted and now serve jail sentences. And we had small-scale bomb blasts in the vicinity of the Legislative Council but the culprits remain scot-free.

Separatism is like cancer. When then chief executive Leung Chun-ying warned of this threat in his 2015 Policy Address nobody paid much attention. Now this has grown into a real threat, so much so that President Xi Jinping had to give a stern warning at the city’s 20th reunification anniversary last year that the red line of sovereignty and national unity cannot be crossed. It is now high time we adopt a zero tolerance approach to separatism! It is likely HKNP will launch an appeal or judicial review against the government clampdown. But with the strength of the evidence just cited, there is little doubt the court will rule the ban lawful and reasonable. This would establish a firm legal basis for government to take resolute action against all other hidden separatist groups, including those receiving clandestine support from overseas.

Once the public appreciates the rationale and necessity of government action, Hong Kong will then be ready to enact national security legislation according to Article 23 of the Basic Law, perhaps in phases, starting with the offenses of treason and secession. This would let Hong Kong finally honor its obligation under the Basic Law to protect the country’s national security.