CY Leung denies report that Hong Kong plans to outlaw independence campaigns
Chief executive denies media report that law against independence movements is being planned in secret for after electoral reform vote
The government has no plan to try to outlaw campaigns advocating independence from China, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said on Wednesday, in response to a news report that such a law was in the works.
But the chief executive said he would be on the alert for pro-independence behaviour.
Leung's comments followed those of Justice Secretary Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung, who said the government had not decided whether it should try to outlaw independence campaigns.
Leung said the notion that Hong Kong should break away from China had gained traction recently, citing an incident in December 2013 in which trespassers carrying colonial-era flags entered the People's Liberation Army barracks in Admiralty. But he said repeatedly that the government did not plan to push for an anti-independence law.
In the last few days, pro-Beijing media have splashed on their front pages news that a Hong Kong Independence Party was registered with the British Electoral Commission in February. The party used Hong Kong's British colonial flag as its emblem.
"Such [pro-independence] moves will affect the relationship between Hong Kong and the mainland, and residents in the two places," Leung said. "We should stay alert." He said independence attempts could lead to "serious consequences", but he did not elaborate.
The officials' comments came in response to a front-page story in the yesterday, which quoted an "authoritative source" who said the government would outlaw the independence movement straight after its political reform package went to a Legislative Council vote in June or July.
