BEIJING—China’s top legislative body effectively barred two Hong Kong politicians from taking office as local lawmakers in a decision that overrides Hong Kong’s legal authority.
The Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress on Monday ruled that people elected to Hong Kong’s legislature can’t be allowed to retake their oaths of office if their first attempt is deemed invalid, according to a statement.
The decision was “necessary” to protect the “dignity” of Hong Kong’s legal system, Zhang Rongshun, vice chairman of the NPC Standing Committee’s legislative affairs commission, was quoted by state media as saying.
Hong Kong started legal proceedings Thursday over whether its legislature should allow two politicians who advocate greater Hong Kong autonomy to take office, after the pair staged an anti-China protest at their swearing-in ceremony last month.
Beijing’s interpretation of the relevant provision in Hong Kong’s Basic Law would supersede any local court ruling. Hong Kong lawyers have voiced concern that such an intervention would undermine the city’s semiautonomous status.
The two politicians, who were democratically elected to Hong Kong’s Legislative Council in September, have “gravely challenged the bottom line of the ‘one country, two systems’ principle,” Mr. Zhang told the Standing Committee on Saturday, Xinhua reported.
In October, Yau Wai-ching and Sixtus Leung attempted to swear in as Legislative Council members while modifying their oath of office to pledge to defend a “Hong Kong nation,” displaying a banner stating “Hong Kong is not China,” and using a derogatory term for China.
The council rejected their oaths, while their subsequent attempts to retake their oaths were rebuffed by the council president pending a local court ruling on whether the two had disqualified themselves from office.
The interpretation was of Article 104 of the Basic Law, which states that legislators must swear allegiance to the “Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China.”
On Sunday, police used pepper spray on protesters in Hong Kong as thousands rallied against Beijing’s expected intervention in the political standoff. http://www.wsj.com/articles/china-says-two-elected-hong-kong-lawmakers-can-t-retake-oaths-1478485326
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