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.” He said the government was studying whether the party had violated relevant ordinances, including the companies ordinance, societies ordinance and crimes ordinance. Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor similarly said independence would violate the “one country, two systems” principle. “I don’t think this topic should be discussed by society. It will only lead to meaningless bickering and divert our attention from worthwhile matters,” she said. Executive Councillor Cheng Yiu-tong, a local National People’s Congress deputy, echoed the newspaper’s view, stressing the need for legal action. Maria Tam Wai-chu, another local deputy to the NPC, said she had confidence in the government’s ability to handle the matter, while warning it was unrealistic and unlawful for the city to become independent. But Exco convenor Lam Woon-kwong dismissed the need to debate whether calling for independence was illegal. “Hong Kong is a city with rule of law,” he said. “Whether certain speech constitutes an unlawful act should be judged according to the law. It cannot be deemed illegal just because someone said so.” And barrister Albert Luk Wai-hung said: “Just because they have set up a party, it doesn’t mean that they have definitely violated the law. “It depends on what they do afterwards ... maybe they may only take donations.”