Crackdown on Hong Kong independence will continue, city’s leader Carrie Lam vows in report to Beijing on banning of separatist party
- 12-page document is result of an unprecedented state letter requesting a report on the outlawing of the Hong Kong National Party
- Lam says government has a responsibility to safeguard national security and its stance on independence is ‘very clear and unambiguous’
In the report’s conclusion, Lam said the city government had a responsibility to safeguard national security and its stance on Hong Kong independence was “very clear and unambiguous”.
“Any act undermining national security is not in the interests of the nation, and will bring turmoil to Hong Kong society,” she wrote.
The report chronicled the background, process and rationale of the government’s ban on the HKNP.
The authorities had argued the party posed an “imminent threat” to national security because its leaders had pledged to achieve independence by “whatever effective means”, even though it had not yet resorted to violence.
Lee’s considerations in banning the HKNP were described in the report as “prudent, careful and comprehensive”, and had taken into account not only the individual words or deeds of the party, but also the threat of allowing its continued operation.
The full text of Lee’s decision was not made public in the report to avoid affecting any possible legal proceedings in future, the government said.
The report said the HKNP, established in March 2016, had been taking actual steps to achieve its goal of breaking away from China and advocated discrimination against mainlanders.
“The HKNP had openly stated that China was the ‘coloniser’ of Hong Kong, that people of mainland Chinese origin were the enemies of Hong Kong, and advocated denial of and hostility to Chinese people, extinction of Chinese people in Hong Kong,” it stated.
“Promotion of such hatred and discrimination by the HKNP, in the context of its open statement to use whatever means to establish an independent Republic of Hong Kong with Chinese people in extinction as its objective, would threaten the rights and freedoms of others.”
Andy Chan Ho-tin, convenor of the HKNP, has until late May to lodge an application for a judicial review to challenge Exco’s decision. But sources said he had not given any clear indication on whether he would do so.
Chan has not commented on the report.
Pro-democracy lawmaker Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu said the HKNP ban was entirely within the authority of the Hong Kong government and he feared the move left the city on a slippery slope for Beijing to intervene.
He added: “Beijing could in future ask for more reports or issue some directives on national security, so where does it end?”
But pro-Beijing lawmaker Holden Chow Ho-ding dismissed the criticism and said Lam was only doing her job as she was constitutionally accountable to the central government.
