Think very carefully before allowing localists to retake oath, new head of Hong Kong’s legislature warned

Leading Beijing loyalists defend Andrew Leung’s right to make such decisions, but pressure him not to go ahead with another swearing-in ceremony for anti-China lawmakers

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Former Hong Kong Legco president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Published: 12:15pm, 22 Oct 2016Updated: 11:01am, 30 Nov 2016

The recently retired head of Hong Kong’s legislature on Saturday cautioned his successor to consider the consequences of allowing two newly elected localist lawmakers to retake their oaths after they insulted China during the original swearing-in ceremony.

Jasper Tsang Yok-sing and two other leading Beijing loyalists waded into the oath-taking row, justifying Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen’s right to make such a decision as the new Legislative Council president. Leung is under intense pressure from the pro-establishment camp to stop Youngspiration’s Sixtus Baggio Leung Chung-hang and Yau Wai-ching from retaking their oaths when Legco holds its next session the coming Wednesday.

President Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen has been warned there will be “consequences” if he allows the localists to retake the oath. Photo: David Wong

Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai, Hong Kong’s sole representative in the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, also warned that Leung and Yau “would make the situation even worse” by attending a forum on the city’s localism movement in Taipei on Saturday.

Many took offence at the pair’s first swearing-in session when they pledged loyalty to “the Hong Kong nation” and pronounced China as “Chee-na”, which sounded like the derogatory “Shina” used by Japan during war time. The Legco president invalidated their vows but decided to give them a second chance, even as Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying sought a judicial review to overturn Andrew Leung’s ruling.

While Tsang stressed that he would not tell his successor what to do, he cautioned Andrew Leung over the consequences. “If the president prevents two lawmakers from retaking their oaths now and the court rules against it in the future, the two lawmakers have only lost their right to join a few meetings,” he said in a TVB interview on Saturday.

“But if the court rules against it and disqualifies them later ... allowing them to take oaths in the first place might turn out to be abuse of power.