After LegCo farce, Beijing makes clear this will not happen again
disqualififififified from membership of the LegCo after they altered the oath which lawmakers must take before assuming office to express their political views in October.
At the opening of the LegCo session on October 12, Leung Chung- hang and Yau changed the oath by replacing “Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China” with the “Hong Kong nation.”
They also draped a blue banner reading “Hong Kong is not China” across their shoulders during the ceremony. Yau even pronounced China as “Shina,” a highly derogatory term used by Japanese forces in World War II.
The High Court’s ruling came just one week after an interpretation was issued by China’s top legislature, the National People’s Congress ( NPC), on Article 104 of the Basic Law of Hong Kong to clarify that oath- taking should be conducted sincerely and accurately.
Tian Feilong, a legal expert and associate professor at Beijing’s Beihang University, said Monday that this time the NPC had actively used this interpretation to offer guidance to Hong Kong’s judicial organs.
“Before the interpretation, the High Court made some ridiculous judgments on the Occupy Central movement and riots in Mong Kok in February which meant some pro- independence extremists, who violently violated the law, escaped punishment under the Basic Law. Both the central government and the NPC all believe that this situation has to be changed,” Tian said.
Necessary guidance
Pro- separatism sentiment in Hong Kong has caused concern among all Chinese, including those who live and work in the region, according to an explanation of the draft NPC interpretation written on Sunday by Zhang Rongshun, vice chairperson of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee
The aim of “Hong Kong independence” is to split the nation, Zhang argued, saying that words or actions advocating “Hong Kong independence” would severely “damage national unity, territorial integrity and national security and affect the long- term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong.”
Li Xiaobing, an associate professor at the Tianjin- based Nankai University, said Zhang’s words show that NPC’s interpretation is not merely against the pair’s behavior, but also a high- level clarification and guidance for Hong Kong’s law enforcement bodies.
Tian added that in order to prevent pro- separatism candidates like Leung Chung- hang and Yau winning a place in the LegCo in the future, the interpretation clarified what candidates will have to do before they can run.
“In the past, candidates actually needed to sign a letter to show their respect to the Basic Law and attitude toward Hong Kong and the mainland, but due to their unclear understanding, Hong Kong’s government and judicial organs didn’t examine the candidates carefully,” Tian stressed.
“This is the reason why people like Leung Chung- hang and Yau could pass this process and get into the LegCo,” he noted.
The NPC’s interpretation said that, according to the Basic Law, the Electoral Officer has to play a key role in judging the candidates’ qualifications in general before the election, so that “we can prevent Hong Kong- independence groups from interrupting the LegCo from the very beginning, and we can see this in the upcoming byelection to fifill fill the gap left by those two disqualififififified disqualified legislators.”