Eric CheungGeverifieerd account

Does the Hong Kong government need to postpone the LegCo election if it disqualifies most, if not all, opposition candidates?

And of course, here comes the official response: "(The government) agrees with and supports the decision of Returning Officers to invalidate 12 nominees for this year's Legislative Council (LegCo) General Election." https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202007/30/P2020073000481.htm?fontSize=1 …

"We do not rule out the possibility that more nominations would be invalidated," it said. "The nominations of these 12 nominees have been invalidated by Returning Officers since they are not in compliance with the requirement under the Legislative Council Ordinance."

The gov't also laid down what it said were behaviours against the Basic Law: -Promoting Hong Kong independence -Supporting Hong Kong independence as an option for self-determination -Soliciting intervention by foreign governments or political authorities (to be continued)

-*Expressing an objection in principle to the enactment of the National Security Law* -Expressing an intention to ... indiscriminately vot[e] down any legislative proposals / budgets introduced by the HKSAR Government to force the Government to accede to certain political demands

So basically, the government is now saying that anyone who objects to the national security law, solicits intervention by foreign gov't, or threatens to vote down legislative proposals can be disqualified. And the DQ today shows that the rule has retroactive power.

It is worth pointing out the obvious again: Some of the candidates disqualified today are moderate pan-dems, who do not endorse the idea of separatism. Four years ago, candidates who openly advocated independence or self-determination were DQed. Today, the red line has shifted.

Hong Kong now has to go through both sweeping political censorship & a worsening Covid-19 outbreak. On Wednesday, Hong Kong reported a record 149 new coronavirus cases, including 145 locally transmitted cases, of which 61 are untraceable.

In 2014, Zhang Xiaoming, who then led the China Liaison Office in #HongKong, reportedly told moderate pan-democrats: “The fact that you are allowed to stay alive, already shows the country's inclusiveness.”https://twitter.com/krislc/status/1288782926667161601 …

The China Liaison Office, which has recently taken up the hobby of regularly commenting on HK affairs, said it firmly supported the DQ: "These people who had their nomination invalidated have said and done things that were against the law," it said.

"Mr. Deng Xiaoping has pointed out long ago, that there is a limit and standard of "HK people administering HK", which is that it must be done by HKers who are patriotic," it added.

Statement from the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a cross-party coalition set up in June:https://twitter.com/ipacglobal/status/1288806722979745794?s=20 …

US Senator Marco Rubio wrote: “The Chinese Communist Party’s determination to remake the city in its image is an outrage and a tragedy for those who support the cause of freedom.” “The U.S. and the international community must respond to these assaults by the CCP,” he said.https://twitter.com/SenRubioPress/status/1288832955855642624 …