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HONG KONG – Local authorities have banned a marginal political party that advocates China's independence, raising fears that further restrictions on political freedoms in the city will follow.
The widely-awaited ban, citing laws previously aimed at dissolving organized crime groups, has been issued by security officials who previously cited the "interests of national security or public security," as saying. ;public order". The order was placed in a newspaper published Monday and signed by John Lee, secretary of the city's security.
This is the first general ban on a party since China regained UK sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997, although candidates from other parties were barred from participating in the parliamentary elections.
The idea of Hong Kong's independence, once an obscure notion that even the most ferocious democracy activists avoided discussing, drew disgruntled supporters from the fact that Beijing offered no concession in 2014 to claim suffrage. universal. The city government and Beijing have indicated that they do not tolerate separatist ideas, and in July the authorities recommended a total ban on the Hong Kong National Party, although the police estimate that the party has only 10 to 100 members.
Although public opinion hardly supports the views of the National Party, some opposition figures are outraged, as this measure has also been seen as an attack on freedom of expression in Hong Kong. Beijing threatened the club's impact on the city's foreign press after hosting a speech by party founder Andy Chan in August.
Chan's party calls for the creation of a "Free and Independent Republic of Hong Kong" and says one of its goals is to completely expel Chinese settlers, according to his website. Mr. Chan declined to comment on the ban in a text message.
Beijing said the promotion of independence was unacceptable and Chinese President Xi Jinping called it "red line" during a visit to Hong Kong last year. This sentiment was echoed by government officials of this former British colony, which has its own laws because of a 50-year deal before it returns to China.
While pro-democracy activists have been careful not to endorse Chan's radical political views, many fear that more repressive measures will be taken. There was deadlock over engagement with the government, while officials used the courts to curb dissent; they jailed activists for demonstrating and ousting democratically elected lawmakers for violating an oath of allegiance to the Chinese government.
Pro-Beijing politicians lobbied the leaders to adopt a national security law, known as Article 23, which was suspended in 2003 after the demonstration of half a million people.
"The ban is a warning that even without the Article 23 legislation, the Beijing red line must not be crossed," said Suzanne Pepper, an academic who studies democracy in the city of China's University of China. Hong Kong. "That says that advocacy alone is enough to justify a ban."
Write to Natasha Khan at [email protected]
