[ad_1]
It is now illegal to be a member of the Hong Kong National Party, to act on its behalf or to raise funds to do so. Offenders could face up to three years in prison and fines of up to $ 12,000, according to a notice issued Monday by authorities citing the Companies Ordinance.
The decision comes after the Hong Kong police appeal in July to ban the party under the order from posing an "imminent threat to national security".
Andy Chan, head of the Hong Kong National Party, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Ordinance on the societies of the colonial era has been widely criticized for being too restrictive. In 1992, Hong Kong's last colonial government amended the directive to bring it into line with international human rights law, but that decision was overturned when China took control of the territory. named body stacked with pro-Beijing figures.
Last month, Chan made a very thorough speech to the Foreign Correspondents Club, which finally came to fruition despite attempts by the government and other personalities to pressure the club and protests from pro-Beijing groups.
"We were once colonized by the British, and now we are colonized by the Chinese, where is our right to determine our own future?" Chan also warned that Hong Kong could follow the path of Tibet and Xinjiang, where China has recently been accused of imprisoning hundreds of thousands of Uyghur Muslims.
Chan has always maintained that his organization is nonviolent.
Political pressure
Founded in 2016 to defend Hong Kong's independence from China, the HKNP has already faced operating restrictions. Chan was one of many separatist candidates to be barred from standing in the 2016 parliamentary elections, and the group also struggled in the past to obtain police permission to hold rallies or meetings. demonstrations.
The support for Hong Kong's independence and greater autonomy from China has increased as Beijing increasingly encroaches on the city's freedoms and political reforms. promises were not successful.
However, Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned during a visit to the city last year that it was a "red line" for the central government.
The HKNP ban comes in the aftermath of the opening of a controversial high-speed rail link with China, which, according to critics, has dealt a new blow to Hong's self-reliance Kong. Under the Beijing agreement, Chinese law governs part of West Kowloon station in central Hong Kong, and Chinese police may make arrests, including driving suspects on the road. continent.
This decision is particularly controversial following two alleged kidnappings by Chinese agents of the bookseller Lee Bo, a British citizen, and Chinese billionaire Xiao Jianhua, of Hong Kong.
Article 23 of the Basic Law, the de facto constitution of Hong Kong, is in abeyance regarding the HKNP's ban for reasons of national security. He calls on the local government to "pass laws to ban any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the central people's government".
Attempts to implement Article 23 in 2003 triggered mass demonstrations, and since then the issue has been unresolved for several administrations.
For Chan, it's a moot point. "Article 23 is already in force now," he told CNN last month. "They can ban any political party because of threats to national security, they can exclude lawmakers."
"Over the past 20 years, Hong Kong has only made progress in one direction: on the upside," he said.
[ad_2]
Source link
