HK disqualifies 4 members of LegCo after NPC ruling

Hong Kong government said on Wednesday that four members of the Legislative Council have been disqualified by a decision adopted by China’s top legislature.

Shortly after, the remaining 15 opposition lawmakers said they will resign en masse.

The Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress, which held meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday, passed a resolution stating that those who support Hong Kong’s independence or refuse to acknowledge China’s sovereignty over the city, or threaten national security or ask external forces to interfere in the city’s affairs, should be disqualified.

The four LegCo members are Alvin Yeung, Dennis Kwok, Kwok Ka-ki and Kenneth Leung.

Earlier in the year, the four now-disqualified opposition lawmakers were barred from running for legislative elections originally scheduled for September 6, prior to the government stating that it would postpone the elections by a year due to the coronavirus.

Their nominations were invalidated as they did not comply with the Legislative Council Ordinance which requires candidates to declare that they will uphold the Hong Kong Basic Law and honor their pledge of allegiance to special administrative region.

The NPC decision applies to the sixth-term LegCo members whose nominations to stand for the seventh-term LegCo election were invalidated by the city citing the above-mentioned circumstances.

The decision also applies to those running for the LegCo office or serving as its members in the future.

Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, said in a news conference on Wednesday that lawmakers must act properly, and that the city needs a legislature comprised of patriots.

“We could not allow members of a Legislative Council who have been judged in accordance with the law that they could not fulfil the requirement and the prerequisite for serving on the Legislative Council to continue to operate,” she said.

The chief executive said that the legislature would not become a rubber-stamp body. “I clearly will say that it is unfair to the pro-establishment members that once the 19 members left the Legislative Council, then they will become a rubber stamp of the Hong Kong SAR government,” she said. “That certainly would not happen.”

NPC lawmakers said it is imperative to ensure that those in Hong Kong public sector who exercise public power, including LegCo members, uphold the Basic Law and honor their pledge of allegiance to Hong Kong.

This will ensure the full and faithful implementation of the “one country, two systems” principle and the Basic Law, safeguard China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests and maintain lasting prosperity and stability in Hong Kong, they said.

China’s representative office in the city said Hong Kong had to be ruled by patriots.

“The political rule that Hong Kong must be governed by patriots shall be firmly guarded,” the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government said in a statement.

The office said that as the permanent body of China’s highest organ of state power, the NPC Standing Committee has the power to decide on constitutional issues related to the implementation of the Basic Law and the law on safeguarding national security in Hong Kong.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that the move to disqualify the lawmakers was necessary to maintain rule of law and constitutional order in Hong Kong. “We firmly support the (Hong Kong) government in performing its duties in accordance with the Standing Committee’s decision,” Wang said.

“I want to emphasize that Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China,” Wang said. “The issue of qualification of Hong Kong Legislative Council members is purely China’s internal affairs. No countries have the right to make irresponsible remarks or intervene.”