Critics -- including protesters who poured onto the city's streets Sunday -- say the decision undermines Hong Kong's own legal system and further erodes promises of autonomy made before the former British colony was returned to China in 1997.

China's top ruling body, invoking a rarely used power, said Monday that anyone who refuses to read the oath should be disqualified from holding office.

"Reading the vows in any dishonest, ungraceful manner is also a refusal to the oath, and it shall be void," the ruling said, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Leung and Yau were among several young politicians elected in a September vote that attracted record turnout, who favor greater autonomy or even independence for Hong Kong Their right to retake their oaths is also being challenged by the Hong Kong government in local courts. Hong Kong's leader, CY Leung, said Monday that he would implement Beijing's decision. Newly elected Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers thumbed their noses at Beijing at a swearing-in-ceremony to start the legislative session on Wednesday, October 12. They displayed banners with words reading "Hong Kong is not China." Youngspiration's Yau Wai-ching told the city's Legislative Council: "I do solemnly swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Hong Kong nation," after laying out a flag bearing the words "Hong Kong is not China." Nathan Law, the city's youngest lawmaker, quoted Ghandi before making his oath. He also refused to leave the podium demanding that the Legislative Council secretary general, Kenneth Chen, explain his reasons for refusing to accept the oaths of his fellow lawmakers. Hong Kong rebel lawmakers shouted, banged drums and railed against "tyranny" on Wednesday when they took their oaths of office, as calls grow for a split from Beijing. A newly elected pro-democracy lawmaker, Fernando Cheung tears an oversized mock copy of controversial, proposed anti-subversion legislation as he takes oath on Wednesday. Lawmakers not only displayed flags declaring that Hong Kong is not a part of China but also called out for "democratic self-determination" for the semi-autonomous Chinese city at Wednesday's oath taking session. Police used pepper spray to disperse thousands of protesters that had gathered outside China's representative office in Hong Kong -- a symbol of Beijing's rule -- on Sunday night ahead of the ruling. Protesters use umbrellas to block the pepper spray from police officers. Clad in black and wielding umbrellas to protect themselves, they brought to mind the pro-democracy street protests that convulsed the city for two months in 2014. China has reacted angrily to calls for Hong Kong independence, with some senior officials calling for "separatists" to be prosecuted. On Monday, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress -- China's top ruling body -- said it had "unanimously" passed its interpretation of Hong Kong's Basic Law, the document hashed out by China and the UK ahead of the handover, which is the city's de facto constitution. The ruling focuses on Article 104, which says that members of Hong Kong's Legislative Council "must swear allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China." A protester raises a placard as thousands of people march through a downtown street in Hong Kong, Sunday. The Standing Committee has only invoked its power to interpret the Basic Law on four previous occasions, which have often drawn controversy. Rimsky Yuen, Hong Kong's Secretary for Justice, dismissed concerns Monday that Hong Kong's judiciary had been compromised. "Both judicial independence and interpretation can coexist, and they do under our constitutional framework," he said. A top Hong Kong government lawyer, Benjamin Yu, said last week that it wouldn't be necessary for Beijing to intervene, and the issue could be handled in the city's courts.</s>Two pro-independence legislators, Yau Wai-ching and Sixtus Leung, from Youngspiration party expressed support for Hong Kong’s independence while taking oath in LegCo last month and used a derogatory term to describe Beijing.

In an unprecedented move, China on Monday passed a new controversial law to bar elected rebel lawmakers from taking office in Hong Kong in a bid to crush growing pro-independence movement in the former British colony.

The ruling passed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s rubber stamp parliament, said elected members to Legislative Council (LegCo) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) must swear allegiance to Hong Kong as part of China and those who changed their oath will be disqualified.

“When assuming office, the chief executive, principal officials, members of the executive council and of the legislative council, judges of courts at all levels and other members of the judiciary in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region must, in accordance with law, swear to uphold the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China.

And swear allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China,” NPC said issuing official interpretation basic law of article 104 of the Hong Kong’s Basic Law.

The clause stipulating “allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’ s Republic of China” is not only the legal content which must be included in the oath prescribed by the Article, but also the legal requirements and preconditions for standing for election in respect of or taking up the public office specified in the Article, the NPC ruling said.

This followed China facing major challenge to its political hold on the former British colony which was merged with the mainland in 1997 with certain privileges like freedom of expression which were not granted to Tibet and Xinjiang, though they are treated as Autonomous Regions for their distinct ethnic identities.

The pro-independence sentiments which had been brewing since 2014 over China’s insistence to screen candidates to contest the polls for the Chief Executive post snowballed into a political movement with some of the rebels getting elected to LegCo.

Two pro-independence legislators, Yau Wai-ching and Sixtus Leung, from Youngspiration party expressed support for Hong Kong’s independence from China while taking oath in LegCo last month and used a derogatory term to describe Beijing.

China’s ruling may also call into question oath of three other pro-independence legislators.

Ms. Yau Wai-ching created a stir by laying out a banner with the word “Hong Kong is not China” before taking her first oath.

The two rebel legislators vowed to defend the “Hong Kong nation.”

Mr. Leung crossed his fingers while Ms. Yau used the F—word in her pledge.

Their actions followed by over a year anti-China protests and demonstrations in former British colony creating a piquant situation for Beijing over fears that an outright crackdown may alienate the SAR further.

This is the first time China made a decisive intervention to prevent situation from spiralling out of control.</s>Newly elected Hong Kong lawmaker Yau Wai-ching, shouts at police officers after clashing as thousands of people march in a Hong Kong street, Sunday, Nov. 6, 2016. Thousands of protesters marched in Hong Kong on Sunday, demanding that China's central government stay out of a political dispute in the southern Chinese city after Beijing indicated that it would intervene to deter pro-independence advocates.

HONG KONG — Thousands of people protested in Hong Kong on Sunday, demanding that China's central government stay out of a political dispute in the southern Chinese city after Beijing indicated that it would intervene to deter pro-independence advocates. Police used pepper spray and batons to contain some of the demonstrators, arresting two.

The dispute centers on a provocative display of anti-China sentiment by two newly elected pro-independence Hong Kong lawmakers at their swearing-in ceremony last month.

China's top legislative panel said that Beijing must intervene to deter advocates of independence for Hong Kong, calling their actions a threat to national security. The Standing Committee of China's rubber-stamp legislature said in a statement that Beijing could not afford to do nothing in the face of challenges in Hong Kong to China's authority, the official Xinhua News Agency reported late Saturday.

On Sunday, thousands of people marched in downtown Hong Kong to voice their opposition to China's plan to step in, saying the move would undermine the city's considerable autonomy and independent judiciary.

Lee Cheuk-yan, a former pro-democracy lawmaker who was among the protesters, said Hong Kong residents were concerned that Beijing was encroaching on their relative freedoms, such as freedom of speech and expression.

"We may not agree with the two (newly elected lawmakers), their language, but we have to protect their rights because they are elected members," Lee said. "If (Beijing) can deprive them this time, they can deprive others because of other speeches or language or protest."

After the protest march, several thousand people gathered in the evening to protest outside Beijing's liaison office. Police used pepper spray and batons on demonstrators amid some scuffling.

Some protesters wore face masks and hoisted open umbrellas in the air - symbols that were reminiscent of student-led pro-democracy demonstrations in 2014 that blocked key Hong Kong streets and attracted global attention.

Helmeted police officers with shields stood in several rows, creating a blockade against the protesters. "Open the road! Open the road!" the demonstrators chanted, as police warned them not to charge.

Senior police superintendent Tse Kwok-wai said police arrested two men, aged 39 and 57, one for obstructing police work and the other for failing to show his identity card. "Police strongly condemn protesters for breaking the law," Tse said.

Demonstrators held signs reading "Defend the rule of law" and calling for the city's Beijing-backed chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, to step down.

Some said that if China's top legislative panel issued its own interpretation on oath-taking, it would effectively undermine a Hong Kong court's ongoing review of the case.

"In (the) long run, that will damage our confidence in the court," said Alvin Yeung, a legislator.

The legislative panel in Beijing said the words and actions of the two Hong Kong lawmakers - Sixtus Leung and Yau Wai-ching - "posed a grave threat to national sovereignty and security," Xinhua reported.

If such a situation were to persist, the Standing Committee said, it would hurt the interests of Hong Kong's residents and China's progress. "The central government cannot sit idly and do nothing," it said.

The statement followed discussions by the committee on issuing an interpretation of an article in Hong Kong's constitution, known as the Basic Law, that covers oaths taken by lawmakers.

Last month, Leung, 30, and Yau, 25, who are from the radical Youngspiration party, altered their oaths to insert a disparaging Japanese term for China. Displaying a flag reading "Hong Kong is not China," they vowed to defend the "Hong Kong nation." Leung crossed his fingers, while Yau used the F-word in her pledge.

Their oaths were ruled invalid, but attempts at a do-over have resulted in mayhem in the legislature's weekly sessions.

Saturday's comments indicated that the Standing Committee intended to use its interpretation of the article to send a strong message against separatism - and could ultimately lead to the democratically elected lawmakers' disqualification from office.

Such an outcome would be favorable to China's Communist leaders, who are alarmed by the former British colony's burgeoning independence movement, but is also likely to plunge their troubled relationship into fresh turmoil.

Maria Tam, a Hong Kong deputy to the National People's Congress, told reporters in Beijing on Saturday that the Standing Committee has the "final say" on the dispute, and that Hong Kong's highest court would accept the panel's interpretation as binding.

Wong reported from Beijing. Associated Press videojournalist Josie Wong in Hong Kong contributed to this report.</s>Critics -- including protesters who poured onto the city's streets Sunday -- say the decision undermines Hong Kong's own legal system and further erodes promises of autonomy made before the former British colony was returned to China in 1997.

China's top ruling body, invoking a rarely used power, said Monday that anyone who refuses to read the oath should be disqualified from holding office.

"Reading the vows in any dishonest, ungraceful manner is also a refusal to the oath, and it shall be void," the ruling said, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Leung and Yao were among six young politicians, elected in a September vote that attracted record turnout, who favor greater autonomy or even independence for Hong Kong Their right to retake their oaths is being challenged by the Hong Kong government in local courts. A protester raises an umbrella sitting in front of a line of police officers outside the Chinese central government's liaison office in Hong Kong, Sunday. Police used pepper spray to disperse thousands of protesters that had gathered outside China's representative office in Hong Kong -- a symbol of Beijing's rule -- on Sunday night ahead of the ruling. Clad in black and wielding umbrellas to protect themselves, they brought to mind the pro-democracy street protests that convulsed the city for two months in 2014. China has reacted angrily to calls for Hong Kong independence, with some senior officials calling for "separatists" to be prosecuted. On Monday, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress -- China's top ruling body -- said it had "unanimously" passed its interpretation of Hong Kong's Basic Law, the document hashed out by China and the UK ahead of the handover, which is the city's de facto constitution. The ruling focuses on Article 104, which says that members of Hong Kong's Legislative Council "must swear allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China." A protester raises a placard as thousands of people march through a downtown street in Hong Kong, Sunday. The Standing Committee has only invoked its power to interpret the Basic Law on four previous occasions, which have often drawn controversy. A top Hong Kong government lawyer, Benjamin Yu, said last week that it wouldn't be necessary for Beijing to intervene, and the issue could be handled in the city's courts.</s>Critics -- including protesters who poured onto the city's streets Sunday -- say the decision undermines Hong Kong's own legal system and further erodes promises of autonomy made before the former British colony was returned to China in 1997.

China's top ruling body, invoking a rarely used power, said Monday that anyone who refuses to read the oath should be disqualified from holding office.

"Reading the vows in any dishonest, ungraceful manner is also a refusal to the oath, and it shall be void," the ruling said, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Leung and Yau were among several young politicians elected in a September vote that attracted record turnout, who favor greater autonomy or even independence for Hong Kong Their right to retake their oaths is also being challenged by the Hong Kong government in local courts. Hong Kong's leader, CY Leung, said Monday that he would implement Beijing's decision. Newly elected Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers thumbed their noses at Beijing at a swearing-in-ceremony to start the legislative session on Wednesday, October 12. They displayed banners with words reading "Hong Kong is not China." Youngspiration's Yau Wai-ching told the city's Legislative Council: "I do solemnly swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Hong Kong nation," after laying out a flag bearing the words "Hong Kong is not China." Nathan Law, the city's youngest lawmaker, quoted Ghandi before making his oath. He also refused to leave the podium demanding that the Legislative Council secretary general, Kenneth Chen, explain his reasons for refusing to accept the oaths of his fellow lawmakers. Hong Kong rebel lawmakers shouted, banged drums and railed against "tyranny" on Wednesday when they took their oaths of office, as calls grow for a split from Beijing. A newly elected pro-democracy lawmaker, Fernando Cheung tears an oversized mock copy of controversial, proposed anti-subversion legislation as he takes oath on Wednesday. Lawmakers not only displayed flags declaring that Hong Kong is not a part of China but also called out for "democratic self-determination" for the semi-autonomous Chinese city at Wednesday's oath taking session. Police used pepper spray to disperse thousands of protesters that had gathered outside China's representative office in Hong Kong -- a symbol of Beijing's rule -- on Sunday night ahead of the ruling. A protester raises an umbrella sitting in front of a line of police officers outside the Chinese central government's liaison office in Hong Kong, Sunday. Clad in black and wielding umbrellas to protect themselves, they brought to mind the pro-democracy street protests that convulsed the city for two months in 2014. China has reacted angrily to calls for Hong Kong independence, with some senior officials calling for "separatists" to be prosecuted. On Monday, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress -- China's top ruling body -- said it had "unanimously" passed its interpretation of Hong Kong's Basic Law, the document hashed out by China and the UK ahead of the handover, which is the city's de facto constitution. The ruling focuses on Article 104, which says that members of Hong Kong's Legislative Council "must swear allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China." A protester raises a placard as thousands of people march through a downtown street in Hong Kong, Sunday. The Standing Committee has only invoked its power to interpret the Basic Law on four previous occasions, which have often drawn controversy. A top Hong Kong government lawyer, Benjamin Yu, said last week that it wouldn't be necessary for Beijing to intervene, and the issue could be handled in the city's courts.</s>China’s parliament passed an interpretation of Hong Kong’s Basic Law on Monday that says lawmakers must swear allegiance to the city as part of China, Beijing’s most direct intervention in the territory’s legal and political system since the 1997 handover.

The ruling is expected to bar two activist lawmakers from taking office in Hong Kong. The prospect of the ruling had sparked protests in the former British territory that returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

The official Xinhua news agency reported that China’s parliament ruled at the end of a regular bimonthly session that the pair of pro-independence lawmakers could not assume their positions in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council if they refused legal procedures when taking oath of office.

The intervention relates to Article 104 of the city’s mini-constitution, which states that lawmakers must swear allegiance to Hong Kong as part of China when they take office.

It came even before a Hong Kong court had ruled, representing some of the worst privately held fears of senior judges and some government officials in Hong Kong, according to sources close to them.

The move was expected to enrage Hong Kong democracy activists further, a day after hundreds of demonstrators clashed with police in running battles around China’s representative office in Hong Kong.

The scenes on Sunday night were reminiscent of pro-democracy protests in late 2014 that paralyzed parts of the Asian financial centre and posed one of the greatest political challenges to the central government in Beijing in decades.

Britain returned Hong Kong to Chinese control in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” formula that gave the territory wide-ranging autonomy, including judicial freedom guided by a mini-constitution called the Basic Law.

The rift between Hong Kong and Beijing has deepened since Yau Wai-ching, 25, and Baggio Leung, 30, pledged allegiance to the “Hong Kong nation” and displayed a “Hong Kong is not China” banner during a swearing-in ceremony for the city’s legislative council in October.

Leading members of China’s parliament said on Saturday the two Hong Kong lawmakers-elect had damaged the territory’s rule of law and posed a grave threat to China’s sovereignty and security.

The Hong Kong Bar Association has said an intervention by Beijing now, while a local court was hearing the case, would deal a severe blow to the city’s judicial independence and undermine international confidence in Hong Kong’s autonomy.

The oath-taking controversy made waves in the former colony, where the topic of independence from China was once regarded as taboo but has come to the fore since the pro-democracy protests in 2014 that failed to secure any concessions from Beijing.</s>Hong Kong’s tycoons prospered these last 19 years in China’s financial green zone — the ultimate special enterprise district offering the transparency, first world banking system and rule of law the mainland sorely lacks.

Its 7.3 million people, not so much. Surging property prices — largely due to mainlanders hoarding flats — have increased inequality since the city returned to Chinese rule in 1997. Equally problematic, Beijing is reneging on pledges to allow Hong Kongers to pick their own leaders. On Sunday, a peaceful protest turned violent as police did Beijing’s bidding to silence voices of dissent.

The immediate flashpoint is China stopping pro-independence lawmakers from entering the legislature. Yesterday, Xi Jinping’s Communist Party “interpreted” the Basic Law separating Hong Kong and Beijing, declaring Yau Wai-ching and Sixtus Leung can’t be sworn in (expect much bigger demonstrations in the days ahead). The longer term crisis is China losing the plot on a place it should be learning from, not remaking in its own twisted image.

China is the economic equivalent of a fun house mirror. Extreme opacity and spin do for China what a convex surface does to human forms — obscure it into a thinner and taller entity. Beijing’s 6.7 percent growth rate and excessive stimulus hide the many sectors going pear shaped. For a reality-check on its true form, read my colleague Jonathan Laing’s piece headlined “China’s debt addiction could lead to a financial crisis.”

The irony is that the Hong Kong China wants to remake in its likeness shows Xi the direction in which he should be guiding the mainland. Granted, the mess of an election unfolding in the United States won’t enhance Xi’s affection for unfettered democracy. But as Xi endeavors to recalibrate growth engines, he should view Hong Kong as a blueprint for what China aims to be. China should aspire to the city’s laissez-faire philosophy, international banking and legal systems, open capital account, reasonably free media, access to global social-media conversations and official accountability, not stamping them out.

Sadly, Xi is working to export Beijing’s opacity to Hong Kong. His government is bullying the city’s media into self-censorship, prodding foreign companies headquartering Asian operations there to play nice, imposing Communist Party sensibilities on young Hong Kongers and muddying investors’ ability to figure out who owns this company, that property or who’s on the hook for which liabilities.

Consider the chilling effect on Wall Street icons angling for Chinese business. Executives at Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and other investment banks are being shut out of giant mainland mergers and acquisitions deals. Might that prompt economists working in Hong Kong to avoid making bearish calls on China’s economy or investigate its true debt burden? Might stock analysts be reluctant to lower earnings estimates for Beijing-connected companies? Might Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s ignore China’s Japan-like trajectory to gain access to the massive mainland market?

International news organizations also are in an impossible situation. For all Xi’s talk about epochal change and tolerance of a “new normal,” China is becoming even more a black box. Journalists fear retribution via the work visa process as they struggle to investigate China’s shadow banking system, the government’s balance sheet and the state of play on anti-corruption efforts from Hong Kong. Might their freedom to police Xi’s government disappear soon? It’s anyone’s guess with pro-Beijing Leung Chun-ying holding the reins in Hong Kong.

China tried to eclipse the democracy story with cold hard cash. In November 2014, Xi sought to change the subject from Beijing’s clumsy diplomacy with a long-promised Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect scheme. He did so amidst the biggest protests since Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule. What Xi really did, though, was export China’s asset bubbles to the green zone. Hong Kong banks, investors and retirees are more exposed to China’s imbalances than even. Also, efforts to avoid mainland froth — including higher stamp duty — are too little, too late.

A similar dynamic is at play with China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank overreach. It’s grand that China wants to help developing Asia, but it should get its domestic house in order before going global. Ditto for Beijing’s designs on stifling the sources of Hong Kong’s vibrancy at a moment when inequality is deepening. Today, the issue is young lawmakers suffering China’s wrath. Tomorrow, Xi’s meddling may cost China — and the world — an economy many long held up as an exemplar.

William Pesek, executive editor of Barron’s Asia, is based in Tokyo and writes on Asian economics. www.barronsasia.com</s>China effectively barred two elected pro-independence lawmakers from Hong Kong’s legislature Monday after they deliberately misread their oaths, saying that they could not be sworn in again.

An oath that did not conform to Hong Kong’s law “should be determined to be invalid, and cannot be retaken,” the communist-controlled National People’s Congress in Beijing said in a rare interpretation of the semi-autonomous city’s constitution.

Legislators had to be “sincere and solemn” when taking their oaths, and had to pledge “completely and solemnly” to uphold the Basic Law of Hong Kong as part of the People’s Republic of China, the NPC declared at the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square.

The question has become hugely sensitive in Hong Kong, the former British colony which returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a promise of “one country, two systems” and where fears of increasing encroachment by Beijing have been rising, prompting mass protests two years ago.

Pro-independence legislators Baggio Leung and Yau Wai-ching deliberately misread their oaths of office for seats on the Legislative Council (Legco) last month.

Beijing sees any talk of independence as treasonous and the official Xinhua News Agency quoted a spokesman for the government’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office welcoming the ruling.

“The interpretation demonstrates the central government’s firm determination and will in opposing ‘Hong Kong independence,’ ” the spokesperson said, adding that it “complies with the common aspiration of the entire Chinese people, including the compatriots in Hong Kong.”

The move was Beijing’s most direct intervention in the territory’s legal and political system since the 1997 handover.

The intervention relates to Article 104 of the city’s mini-constitution, which states that lawmakers must swear allegiance to Hong Kong as part of China when they take office.

It came even before a Hong Kong court had ruled, representing some of the worst privately held fears of senior judges and some government officials in Hong Kong, according to sources close to them.

The move was expected to enrage Hong Kong democracy activists further, a day after hundreds of demonstrators clashed with police in running battles around China’s representative office in Hong Kong.

The scenes on Sunday night were reminiscent of pro-democracy protests in late 2014 that paralyzed parts of the Asian financial center and posed one of the greatest political challenges to the central government in Beijing in decades.

Britain returned Hong Kong to Chinese control in 1997 under the one country, two systems formula that gave the territory wide-ranging autonomy, including judicial freedom guided by a mini-constitution called the Basic Law.

The rift between Hong Kong and Beijing has deepened since Yau, 25, and Leung, 30, pledged allegiance to the “Hong Kong nation” and displayed a “Hong Kong is not China” banner during a swearing-in ceremony for the city’s legislative council in October.

Leading members of China’s parliament said on Saturday the two Hong Kong lawmakers-elect had damaged the territory’s rule of law and posed a grave threat to China’s sovereignty and security.

The Hong Kong Bar Association has said an intervention by Beijing now, while a local court was hearing the case, would deal a severe blow to the city’s judicial independence and undermine international confidence in Hong Kong’s autonomy.</s>Why did this happen?

Please make sure your browser supports JavaScript and cookies and that you are not blocking them from loading. For more information you can review our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy.</s>The mainland Chinese government in Beijing has intervened more openly than ever before in the governance of Hong Kong. The Chinese National People’s Congress – Beijing’s parliament – pronounced on Monday that all members of Hong Kong’s legislative council must “swear allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administration Region of the People’s Republic of China,” and that none of them could even advocate independence for Hong Kong – something that could hardly be imagined in, say, Canada.

This was a remarkably heavy-handed response to two young politicians who recently won election to the island’s legislative council. When taking an oath before occupying their seats, Sixtus Baggio Leung and Yao Wai-ching made satirical references to China and swore allegiance to “the Hong Kong nation.”

So far, the two are being paid their salaries and working in their offices, but a pro-Beijing group in Hong Kong says they have “darkness and dirt in their hearts.” The whole matter is before the Hong Kong courts.

It’s not a good sign for Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” principle. In 1997, after many years, Britain returned Hong Kong to China. The agreement said the island would have a distinct system, with the rule of law and liberal commerce. But the electoral system is only partly democratic, because of so-called “functional” constituencies. Now, there is further cause to worry about Hong Kong’s relative political freedom. Two other so-called “localist” legislators are being looked at askance by the authorities, one for allegedly raising eyebrows at the swearing-in, another for pausing between words. Such pettiness has more than a tinge of totalitarianism.
Baggio Leung and Yau Wai-ching are banned by China from taking office in Hong Kong over the oath-taking controversy.