Hong Kong’s opposition lawmakers said on Wednesday that they will be collectively submitting their resignation letters on Thursday, to protest the ejection of four fellow pro-democracy legislators from the city assembly whom Beijing had deemed secessionist.
The move comes after China’s National People's Congress Standing Committee approved a resolution that gave Hong Kong’s local authorities the power to bypass local courts and instantaneously remove politicians viewed as a threat to national security. Consequently, four Hong Kong lawmakers who have so far supported the territory’s pro-democracy movement were immediately unseated. The same assembly members had previously been banned from running for re-election as authorities deemed their pledge of allegiance to Hong Kong was not earnest.
At a news conference which started with all opposition lawmakers holding hands, Democratic Party chairman Wu Chi-Wai announced “Today, we announce we will resign from our positions as our colleagues are being disqualified by the central government’s ruthless move,” He further elaborated on the reason behind their collective resignation “We can no longer tell the world that we still have ‘one country, two systems’; this declares its official death.”
In all, 15 remaining opposition lawmakers said they would step down in solidarity with their ousted colleagues. The four lawmakers who were disqualified are the Civic Party’s Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu, Dennis Kwok and Kwok Ka-ki, and Kenneth Leung, who serves in the Accountancy functional constituency. They were removed from Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, or LegCo, for “endangering national security.” The mass departure would also leave Hong Kong’s legislature comprised of only pro-Beijing lawmakers. These members already make up a majority in the assembly, but henceforth, the LegCo would be able to approve bills favoured by Beijing without much opposition.
Eight other opposition politicians have been arrested this month over a legislative meeting in May that led to a brawl in the Hong Kong Parliament. Following the latest developments on Wednesday, Wu characterized the walkout by the legislators as a “fight of democracy." “[We] will never, ever give up,” he said.
Unsurprisingly, Carrie Lam, the city’s leader and a Beijing loyalist, supported the expulsion of the four legislators and said “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,”
On several occasions, China has denied restricting rights and freedoms in the special administrative region. However, in both Hong Kong and Beijing, authorities aggressively cracked down on political dissent during anti-government protests in June, when Beijing imposed national security legislation on the city. The law punishes anything China considers subversion, secessionism, terrorism, or collusion with foreign forces with harsh penalties, including up to life in prison.
The move is sure to raise further concern in the West about the level of Hong Kong’s autonomy, promised under a “one country, two systems” formula when Britain ended its colonial rule and handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997. Britain’s foreign minister Dominic Raab said the expulsion of the four lawmakers constituted an assault on Hong Kong’s freedoms as set out in the UK-China Joint Declaration. “This campaign to harass, stifle and disqualify democratic opposition tarnishes China’s international reputation and undermines Hong Kong’s long-term stability,” Raab said in a statement. Earlier this week, Washington imposed sanctions on four more officials in Hong Kong’s governing and security establishment over their alleged role in crushing dissent. In August, it placed sanctions on Carrie Lam, the territory’s current and former police chiefs, and other top officials.
Analysts say that for lawmakers of Hong Kong, both staying and leaving are tough choices. Mass resignations remove the democracy activists’ access to a forum where they could question policymakers and make them more accountable to public opinion. But staying could have been perceived by their supporters as legitimising Beijing’s move and led to discord.