Andy Chan is not a one-off and he is not alone: that’s why Hong Kong must act against independence movement

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Demonstrators fly a banner for Hong Kong independence at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, as a lunchtime talk is delivered by Andy Chan, convenor of the pro-independence Hong Kong National Party. Photo: EPA

Published: 5:00pm, 28 Aug 2018Updated: 1:28pm, 3 Oct 2018

Your reader Peter Forsythe suggested that Hong Kong should “take a collective deep breath and ignore Andy Chan. And let Beijing know that we are ignoring him” (“Breathe in and ignore inanities of Andy Chan”, August 22). He also said that “government officials, both past and present, bear responsibility for needlessly giving oxygen to Chan and the Foreign Correspondents’ Club”.

As secretary general between 1988 and 1990 of the Basic Law Consultative Committee, which took part in the intense discussions over the two drafts of the Basic Law before its promulgation, I have some insights to offer.

Beijing was persuaded on Hong Kong’s own ability to tackle people like Andy Chan Ho-tin, to the point that it allowed Hong Kong to enact its own laws under Article 23 “to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People’s Government ...”, instead of applying such national laws to Hong Kong.

It was a bargain that Beijing has been waiting, for 21 years now, for Hong Kong to deliver on. And now Beijing is being told that we have no legal means to restrain or admonish Chan, or the FCC, for that matter.

Andy Chan at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club on August 14. In his speech, Chan denounced China as Hong Kong’s “colonial master”. Photo: Bloomberg

Chan is not a one-off. Nor is he alone. The independence movement has been around for some time. Even without the “oxygen” from government officials, several books have been published. One university student union repeatedly advocated Hong Kong independence in its journal. Two elected Legislative Council candidates proclaimed that “Hong Kong is not China”. Some eateries have been displaying banners with the same slogan. I could go on and quote from opinion polls on Hong Kong independence.