Beijing’s Basic Law stand in oath saga ‘a crushing deadly blow’
Former Liaison Office chief says basic law interpretation is ‘very encouraging’
Beijing’s tougher stand on the Basic Law sparked by two pro-independence Hong Kong lawmakers was a like “crushing a crab to death”, the central government’s former chief representative in Hong Kong said on Thursday.
Citing a Cantonese idiom to describe high-handed suppression of opposition, Peng Qinghua, former head of the central government’s liaison office in Hong Kong, said the National People’s Congress’ interpretation of Hong Kong’s Basic Law that disqualified the two lawmakers was “very encouraging” and “efficient”.
Peng, now Guangxi’s Communist Party boss, was referring to the NPC’s controversial interpretation of Article 104 of Hong Kong’s mini-constitution that disqualified two newly elected Hong Kong lawmakers who included pro-independence slogans in their oath of office.
On the sidelines of the NPC in Beijing, Peng praised the interpretation as “a blow” to the pro-independence advocates and an effort to safeguard the “one country, two systems” principle. The interpretation had wider public support in Hong Kong than previous NPC interpretations, he said.
Peng said the two lawmakers’ oaths “touched the bottom line of the nation and it was time for the NPC to make the decision [to interpret the Basic Law]”.
