China targets Hong Kong’s lawmakers as it squelches dissent
China moved Wednesday to quash one of the last vestiges of democracy and dissent in Hong Kong, forcing the ouster of four pro-democracy lawmakers from their elected offices in a purge that prompted the rest of the opposition to vow to resign en masse.
The departures will reshape the city’s political landscape, which has been upended since China imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong this summer that gave authorities broad powers to crack down on resistance.
In recent months, Beijing-backed authorities have arrested pro-democracy leaders and activists as they resolved to bring
Hong Kong to heel and put an end to the protests that engulfed the semi-autonomous Chinese territory for much of last year. Beijing and its supporters have also raised pressure on Hong Kong’s independent court system and on news outlets that strike a defiant tone.
Their target Wednesday was Hong Kong’s legislature, the Legislative Council, which has stood as a symbol of the “one country, two systems” legal framework designed to preserve democratic freedoms in the former British colony after it returned to Chinese rule.
The legislature has proved an irritant for Beijing, as a group of pro-democracy lawmakers have argued that China’s campaign threatens to erode Hong Kong’s status as a global, open city.
Beijing officials moved Wednesday to silence those voices, granting broad new powers that allow the Hong Kong government to remove lawmakers from office who do not show clear loyalty to China.
Within minutes of Beijing’s announcement, Hong Kong officials ejected the four lawmakers, Dennis Kwok, Kwok Ka-ki, Kenneth Leung and Alvin Yeung. Hours after their removal from office, the remaining 15 members of their bloc said they were stepping down in solidarity.
One of the legislators, Wu Chi-wai, told reporters that they would tender their resignations in protest Thursday.
“Under authoritarianism, the road to democracy will be extremely long and arduous, but we will absolutely not be defeated by its pressures,” Wu said. “We will inevitably find new paths.”
The lawmakers said they believed that the legislature is now so compromised by the government’s power to stamp out opposition that they must work outside the system.
Hong Kong government appeared to welcome the resignations, which will give it much freer rein to pursue its agenda.