Hong Kong crafting ‘patriotic’ oath for councils

HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s government will gazette a Bill later this week that will require communitylevel district councils to pledge an oath of allegiance to the Chineseruled city’s miniconstitution, further stifling democratic opposition.

Secretary for Mainland and Constitutional Affairs Eric Tsang said politicians deemed insincere would be blocked from office, releasing details of the Bill a day after a senior Chinese official said provisions should be made to ensure ‘‘patriots’’ were running Hong Kong.

‘‘The law will fulfil the constitutional responsibility of the government,’’ Tsang said.

‘‘You cannot say that you are patriotic but you do not love the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party or you do not respect it — this does not make sense,’’ he added.

Any district councillor suspended from office after failing the loyalty test would be sent to court for formal disqualification and banned from contesting elections for five years.

The Bill could pave the way for the mass disqualification of prodemocracy politicians, who took almost 90% of 452 district council seats in Hong Kong in the 2019 elections.

While district councils decide little beyond communitylevel issues, Beijing and Hong Kong authorities are determined all public institutions in the city must be run by people loyal to Beijing.

Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of China’s State Council, said Hong Kong should only be ruled by ‘‘patriots’’.

Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam said the changes were needed to stop hatred of China and sustain the ‘‘one country, two systems’’ governance model.

Hong Kong’s Legislative Council will debate the Bill on March 17.

Before that, China’s parliament will convene from March 5, and is expected to impose a series of electoral changes on Hong Kong, which critics say would strengthen the authoritarian turn taken in the city following the imposition of a sweeping national security law in June 2020.

Tsang announced that once the oathtaking law was passed, four councillors would be disqualified given their earlier disqualification from standing for Legislative Council elections.

Henry Wong, a prodemocracy councillor from suburban Yuen Long, said he was still deciding whether to take the oath under the new law.

‘‘This is just an act to legalise their brutal force in destroying democracy voices.’’ — Reuters