Dozens of pro-Beijing lawmakers walked out of the Hong Kong legislature on Wednesday (October 19) to prevent the swearing-in of two pro-independence activists, setting the scene for a new constitutional crisis in the Chinese-controlled territory.
The topic of independence has long been taboo in the former British colony, now governed under the “one country, two systems” principle since its return to Communist-ruled China in 1997.
The government failed in an unprecedented legal attempt to halt the swearing-in of the two newly elected legislators, Baggio Leung, 30, and Yau Wai-ching, 25, late on Tuesday (October 18) evening.
But High Court Judge Thomas Au did approve the government’s request for a judicial review of the case, which will take place early next month.
Pro-China lawmakers on Wednesday marched out of the Legislative Council chamber, leaving Chinese and Hong Kong flags in their place, to deprive it of a quorum.
New legislative president Andrew Leung, himself a pro-establishment figure, stood by his defiance of government efforts to ban Yau and Leung.
”Although I did not approve of the behaviour of the two members during their oath-taking and I also ruled their oaths last week invalid. But they are duly elected and as Legco president I have a constitutional duty to safeguard their rights to fulfill their duties as elected Legco members,” he said.
He said he thought Hong Kong was still far from a constitutional crisis and said he had no regrets about his decision.
After chaotic scenes outside Hong Kong’s legislative council chamber, the pan-democrats slammed their opponents for boycotting the meeting.
”We strongly condemn people who boycotted the meeting. We believe they are rudely using the procedure of legislative assembly and deliberately led the meeting to be cancelled. They are preventing candidates being sworn in and their constitutional rights,” said pro-democracy lawmaker James To.
It is unclear when the swearing-in will now take place.
Yau and Leung sparked outrage from Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing establishment when their first oaths were rejected by legislative officials last week.
At the time, they pledged allegiance to the “Hong Kong nation” and displayed a banner declaring “Hong Kong is not China”, using language some legislators considered to be derogatory Japanese slang.
Leung and Yau are part of a new generation of Hong Kong activists determined to force issues of self-determination and independence onto the mainstream political agenda.
Outside the chamber, hundreds of pro-Beijing protesters thronged the grounds of the legislature, some carrying placards of the pair dressed in Japanese army uniforms denouncing them as “traitors” and “dogs”.
One banner read: “Pro-independence legislators are traitors. You have no right to separate territory. But you have the right to not be Chinese and get out of Hong Kong.”
“They don’t obey the basic law and they don’t regard the Chinese and Hong Kong government,” said spokesperson of the pro-Beijing group Caring Hong Kong Power, Dennis Chow.
Street protests calling for full democracy for Hong Kong that blocked key arteries in 2014 presented Communist Party rulers in Beijing with one of their biggest political challenges in decades.
The judicial review looms as a unprecedented constitutional battle in the free-wheeling global financial hub, testing its rule of law and the separation of powers between the government and legislative branch. — (REUTERS)
