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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》Hong Kong legislators-elect lose appeal
Hong Kong legislators-elect Sixtus “Baggio” Leung, left, and Yau Wai-ching speak to reporters outside the Hong Kong High Court yesterday. Photo: EPA
OFFERS OF SUPPORT: After the ruling, a Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman warned Democratic Progressive Party legislators ‘not to talk nonsense about the Hong Kong issue’
/ AFP and Reuters, HONG KONG and BEIJING
Two pro-independence Hong Kong legislators-elect yesterday lost their appeal against a ban preventing them from taking up their seats in the Legislative Council as Beijing faces accusations of stepping up its interference in the territory’s politics.
Sixtus “Baggio” Leung （梁頌恆） and Yau Wai-ching （游蕙禎） deliberately misread their oaths of office by inserted expletives and draped themselves with “Hong Kong is not China” flags during a swearing-in ceremony in October.
Speaking after yesterday’s judgement, an angry Leung said the “invisible hand” of Beijing had intervened in Hong Kong’s affairs.
Leung and Yau were voted in to parliament in elections in September which saw several rebel candidates take seats for the first time, advocating either independence or self-determination for Hong Kong.
The new movement supporting a possible split from Beijing for the semi-autonomous territory has gained traction as young pro-democracy campaigners grow increasingly frustrated with a lack of political reform.
Beijing hit out at the pair in a special “interpretation” of the territory’s Basic Law last month that effectively prevented them from taking up their seats because of the way they took the oath.
Following Beijing’s protest, the Hong Kong High Court ruled the two legislators-elect should be disqualified from the Legislative Council because their oaths were invalid, in an unprecedented judicial review brought by the territory’s chief executive and justice secretary.
Yau and Leung appealed, but lost in a judgement that took Beijing’s ruling into account, amid criticism that the separation of powers in Hong Kong has been compromised.
The Hong Kong Court of Appeal’s judgement referred to Beijing’s ruling as giving the “true meaning” to the part of the Basic Law that requires legislators-elect to take an oath of allegiance to Hong Kong as a special administrative region of China.
The judgement said the court’s duty to apply the Basic Law outweighed the doctrine of separation of powers and non-intervention.
It said there could be “no dispute” that Yau and Leung had declined to take the oath.
Leung said he did not believe he had done anything wrong.
“The way the oath incident has developed from an affair within Hong Kong to what it is now is unexpected to us all,” Leung told reporters.
Leung said the pair were considering their next step, but had not decided whether to proceed to the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal.
The judgement came as the government announced plans to take another legislator to court over her oath.
The Hong Kong Department of Justice said it would initiate proceedings against teacher Lau Siu-lai （劉小麗）, a prominent activist who made her name during mass pro-democracy rallies in 2014 and advocates self-determination for Hong Kong.
Lau’s oath was rejected during her swearing in as she read the pledge at a snail’s pace, leaving long gaps between every word.
She was later given a second chance to read it and was able to take her seat.
Lau criticized the decision to take her to court as “political suppression.”
Meanwhile, China called on Taiwan to stay out Hong Kong’s affairs, saying it was “talking nonsense” about the former British colony and warning it not to damage Hong Kong’s stability.
Asked about comments from Democratic Progressive Party legislators who offered their support for Leung and Yau, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said independence activists from both sides were trying to link up and sow chaos in Hong Kong.
“Compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, especially those in Hong Kong, should be on high alert for this,” Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Ma Xiaoguang （馬曉光） told reporters in Beijing. “The words and deeds of Baggio Leung and Yau Wai-ching run contrary to mainstream public opinion in Hong Kong and Hong Kong resident’s basic interests, but relevant parties in Taiwan are helping them, to what intent?”
“We advise the Taiwan side not to talk nonsense about the Hong Kong issue, interfere in Hong Kong’s enforcement of ‘one country, two systems,’ or damage Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability,” he said.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
