Hong Kong National Party under legal scrutiny as government studies whether group broke law
As Beijing steps up pressure, justice chief Rimsky Yuen says government is studying whether the party violated any ordinances
Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung says the government is looking into whether advocates of Hong Kong independence broke any laws by setting up a party, after a mainland newspaper called for legal action.
An article in the overseas edition of People’s Daily yesterday cited “legal personnel” as saying that formation of the party constituted incitement to sedition.
“The Secretary of Justice needs to study in detail whether to take legal action,” the article read. It accused radical parties of proposing “armed revolution” while spreading pro-independence ideology on campuses through discussion forums and reading groups.
“Some people only want to stand out to attract media attention in order to enhance their reputation. But [their actions] have pushed Hong Kong to a dangerous place. The SAR government can no longer be lenient,” it said.
The comment came amid Beijing’s heightened rhetoric against calls for the city to split from the mainland. After the Hong Kong National Party was founded in March, the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office slammed the pro-independence group as a threat to national security.
On Friday, the city’s constitutional affairs minister, Raymond Tam Chi-yuen, said Beijing was worried pro-independence sentiment could “worsen or spread”.
Responding to reporters’ questions, Yuen said: “Advocating for independence of Hong Kong is totally contrary to the Basic Law and also contrary to the legal status of Hong Kong.”