41 lawmakers echo Beijing’s sharp rebuke of legal scholar Benny Tai’s Hong Kong independence comments
They lambast Tai for using Hong Kong as a ‘testing ground for his political gimmicks”, while the academic declares ‘Cultural Revolution-style denouncement’ may have started against him
Almost all of Hong Kong’s pro-establishment lawmakers, taking their cue from Beijing, jointly denounced liberal academic Benny Tai Yiu-ting on Sunday for recently saying in Taiwan that Hong Kong could “consider becoming an independent state”.
We solemnly denounce Benny Tai, [he should] not make use of Hong Kong again as the testing ground for his political gimmicks!
The 41 legislators, with the exception of Legislative Council president Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen, condemned the University of Hong Kong law scholar for remarks they said were against the national constitution and the city’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law.
They said Tai had already brought “great damage” to society as a key leader of the 2014 Occupy movement, that led to 79 days of road blockades in the name of fighting for greater democracy. Now, by going outside Hong Kong to “further advocate independence”, his actions were “totally opposite” from what was in Hongkongers’ interest.
“For the sake of the welfare of Hong Kong citizens, we solemnly denounce Benny Tai, [he should] not make use of Hong Kong again as the testing ground for his political gimmicks!”
Their statement came barely a few hours after state news agency Xinhua slammed Tai for “purposefully and knowingly” challenging the nation’s constitution and the “constitutional order” of the “one country, two systems” policy.
“The central government has repeatedly and clearly expressed its zero tolerance stance for Hong Kong independence … as a university staff member, it is impossible that Tai is unaware of that but he still makes such remarks that Hong Kong could consider becoming an independent state,” the Xinhua commentary said.
On his Facebook page on Sunday, Tai said: “Cultural Revolution-style denouncement could have started against me. It will quickly spread to affect all Hong Kong people. Everyone will find themselves in danger.