Govt outlaws National Party in Hong Kong
Move signals decline of free expression
HONG KONG: The Hong Kong government used a public security ordinance law to ban a small pro-independence political party yesterday, a move rights advocates said would threaten free expression and association in the city.
The Hong Kong National Party has just a handful of members and no elected representatives, but it attracted intense government scrutiny for its call to make Hong Kong, a former British colony that rejoined China in 1997, an independent state.
The decision to ban the party was announced in a published notice in the Hong Kong Government Gazette. John Lee, the secretary for security, said in July that the authorities were considering outlawing the group, and had solicited its response.
The head of the party, Andy Chan, was banned from running for office in Hong Kong two years ago after he refused to answer an election officer’s questions over whether he would push for independence.
Mr Chan spoke at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong Kong in August, saying the efforts to ban his party were a sign of deteriorating freedoms in the city. China’s foreign ministry and local officials criticised the club for hosting a speaker who advocates separatism, and a former Hong Kong leader said the government should reconsider the lease of the group’s clubhouse in a historic, public-owned building.
Mr Chan and the Hong Kong National Party did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The law under which the party has been banned, the Societies Ordinance, has not been used against a political party since Hong Kong returned to China’s control in 1997. During the colonial era, political parties like the Communist Party of China and the Kuomintang, Taiwan’s former ruling party, were outlawed in Hong Kong.
While now part of China, Hong Kong has more robust protections for civil liberties under what is known as “one country, two systems”.
The Societies Ordinance, which authorises the prohibition of groups for reasons of national security, public safety and public order, has largely been used against organised crime.
While the Hong Kong National Party is a tiny organisation, the government’s effort to ban it has been protested by a broad swath of pro-democracy figures who said the move would lead to further restrictions on political freedoms.
Opinion surveys indicate most people in Hong Kong do not support the city’s independence from China. But the idea has been widely discussed, particularly after the 2014 Umbrella Movement, when protesters occupied city streets for 79 days to push for more open elections.
A survey last year by the Chinese University of Hong Kong found that 11.4% of respondents supported Hong Kong independence. Other studies of university students have indicated stronger support for independence.