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“Hong Kong is not China”: pro-sovereignty oath dispute brought to court
Two MPs swear allegiance to "nation of Hong Kong" · Former colony's pro-Beijing government wants Youngspiration party's two seats in Legislative Council to be declared vacant
LegCo members Yau Wai-Ching and Baggio Leung were elected in the September 4 election as members of new party Youngspiration, which advocates the right to self-determination of the "Hong Kong nation".
Both MPs have shown up in the chamber bearing banners that read "Hong Kong is not China"
Since October 12, the two MPs are trying to have LegCo president Andrew Leung accept their oaths. Both lawmakers have changed the established formula, and have sworn allegiance instead "to the Hong Kong nation." Besides, both have shown up in the chamber bearing banners that read "Hong Kong is not China."Both MPs have seen their oaths refused three times.
One of the most controversial things in their oath was the fact that Yau Wai-Ching and Baggio Leung used an archaic Japanese word for China, "Shina", which is now considered to be derogatory for the Chinese people.
Case brought to court
The pro-Beijing government of Hong Kong has decided to bring the case to court. The executiva has called on the semi-autonomous city's High Court to declare both seats "vacant". According to the government, it is clear that the two pro-sovereignty MPs do not really want to take office.
Media reports suggest that China's highest legislative body is set to intervene in the dispute in the coming hours or days
The lawyers of the two MPs argue that a "political solution", rather than a judicial one, should be found in order to allow Yau Wai-Ching and Baggio Leung to sit in the LegCo.Meanwhile, several media reports suggest that China's highest legislative body, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, is set to intervene in the dispute in the coming hours or days.
Growth of so-called localist parties
The controversy comes against the backdrop of the September election, when for the first time a set of parties commonly known in Hong Kong as "localist" won 19% of the votes. Many of them are newly established parties that were born during or immediately after the protests that took place in Hong Kong in 2014, when hundreds of thousands took to the streets to demand more democracy and respect for autonomous decisions of the former British colony.