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. 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. 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 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." 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.
Baggio Leung and Yau Wai-ching are banned by China from taking office in Hong Kong over the oath-taking controversy.