Prodemocracy lawmakers resign
HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s prodemocracy lawmakers announced Wednesday they would resign en masse after four of them were ousted from the semiautonomous Chinese territory’s Legislature in a move one legislator said could sound the “death knell” for democracy there.
The resignation of the 15 remaining prodemocracy lawmakers will ratchet up tensions over the future of Hong Kong, a former British colony that has long been a regional financial hub and bastion of Westernstyle civil liberties but over which China’s government has increasingly tightened its control. A new national security law imposed by Beijing this year has alarmed the international community.
The mass departure will also leave Hong Kong’s Legislature with only proBeijing lawmakers, who already made up a majority but can now pass bills favored by Beijing without much opposition.
The announcement came hours after the Hong Kong government said it was disqualifying the four legislators — Alvin Yeung, Dennis Kwok, Kwok Kaki and Kenneth Leung.
The ousters came after China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee passed a resolution this week saying that any lawmaker who supports Hong Kong’s independence, refuses to acknowledge China’s sovereignty over the city, threatens national security, or asks external forces to interfere in the city’s affairs should be disqualified.
“Today we will resign from our positions because our partners, our colleagues have been disqualified by the central government’s ruthless move,” Wu Chiwai, the leader of the prodemocracy camp said.