简体中文
The notion of establishing a pro-independence “party” in Hong Kong was way out of line when it came to freedom of speech, the central government's top envoy in the city said.
Zhang Xiaoming, director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the HKSAR, discussed the launch of a pro-independence “party” during an interview on Phoenix TV on Thursday.
The “Hong Kong National Party” openly denounced the Basic Law and declared itself an advocate of “Hong Kong independence” at a press briefing on Monday - where only a spokesman was identified.
The Liaison Office director said the notion of establishing the “party” fell outside the scope of freedom of speech because it contravened the “One Country, Two Systems” principle.
There could be no room for tolerating such behavior when it came to defending important principles, Zhang stressed. The city must not ignore the threat posed by the separatist cause.
He confirmed his faith in the local authorities to deal with the separatists in accordance with the law. Zhang added that “the key is whether they take action that breaks the law and whether they are doing damage to society”.
Quoting comments by a spokesman for the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office (HKMAO) on Wednesday, Zhang said the separatist group had threatened national sovereignty and security. It was also jeopardizing the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong as well as the fundamental interests of Hong Kong residents, he added.
The HKMAO made the comments in a Xinhua report published on Wednesday evening. The office said the new “party” was against the national Constitution, the Basic Law and other local laws.
Former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa, also vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, on Thursday urged the community to strongly oppose separatism.
Tung blamed the illegal blocking of major thoroughfares during the “Occupy Central” protests in 2014 and riots in February for harming Hong Kong’s struggling economy. He said the ideas advocated by separatists were foolish and naive.
Hong Kong’s Department of Justice has not specifically discussed how remarks made by the “Hong Kong National Party” risk breaking the law. But Barrister Lawrence Ma Yan-kwok told Cable TV that founders of the “party” might have committed the offense of seditious intention prescribed in the Crime Ordinance.
A seditious intention is defined in the law as an intention to bring into hatred or contempt, or to excite disaffection, against the central government or any parts of China, or to excite any inhabitants of Hong Kong to attempt alteration of any matter established by law through unlawful means.
(CHINADAILY)
