Beijing slams resignation of Hong Kong parliamentarians 'a farce' and an 'open challenge'
Harsh comments from China’s Hong Kong and Macao Liaison Office over resignation of 15 pro-democracy legislators. For Beijing they are against Basic Law, the Hong Kong government, the sovereignty of China. Johannes Chan, from the University of Hong Kong: China seems above the law. This reduces people's trust in the rule of law. United States: The Chinese Communist Party dictatorship expands to Hong Kong.
Hong Kong (AsiaNews) – Beijing has bulled the mass resignations of 15 democratic front parliamentarians from the Legco (the Hong Kong parliament) "a farce", "an open challenge" to the authority of the Basic Law, (the mini-constitution of the) and to Beijing itself.
This was the reaction from China’s Hong Kong and Macao Liaison Office to the decision of the opposition group to abandon the Legco yesterday shortly after Beijing ruled the exclusion of four legislators for "security" reasons. The four are: Alvin Yeung, Kwok Ka-ki, Dennis Kwok and Kenneth Leung.
A spokesman for the Hong Kong and Macao Office denounced the mass resignation action as an attempt to offend the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress which took the resolution against the four. He defended the resolution as something that serves the smooth operations of the Legco and guarantees "stability" to society.
The work of these opposition MPs is "a farce" that "opposes Beijing's global jurisdiction over Hong Kong". They are not loyal to Basic Law and the Hong Kong government. “If these lawmakers hope to make use of their resignation to provoke radical opposition and beg for foreign interference, they have miscalculated,” he said.
Beijing’s action to intervene to punish the four legislators is seen as something illegal by Hong Kong personalities.
Professor Johannes Chan, of the University of Hong Kong, said the legal basis for Beijing’s decision is unclear: “"We have seen the NPCSC is above the law. They can just pass any decision or stop any decision without any regard of the procedures of the Basic Law. I think inevitably, people's confidence in the Rule of Law will be undermined and increasingly it seems the Basic Law is getting more and more irrelevant in Hong Kong."
The ouster of the four legislators was condemned by the United States. For Robert O'Brien, US Security Advisor, the Chinese Communist Party has committed a "flagrant violation" of its commitment to Hong Kong. In a statement he states that now "[the principle] One country, two systems is just a fig leaf that hides the expansion of the Party's dictatorship over Hong Kong
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