Passiveness or unclear Legco rules? All eyes on Hong Kong pro-Beijing bloc’s next move over gridlocked House Committee chair election

Amid the gridlock, 14 bills and 89 pieces of subsidiary legislation are held up, including a national anthem bill that, observers say, is testing Beijing’s patience

Central government agencies have waded into row, with observers stumped over pro-establishment’s inaction as opposition continues to filibuster

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The Legislative Council has not had a properly functioning House Committee for months. Photo: Edward Wong

Published: 8:31am, 20 Apr 2020Updated: 8:57am, 20 Apr 2020

Since last October, the Legislative Council’s House Committee in Hong Kong has been reduced to a single-agenda panel. There is only one item on its line-up of 15 meetings from October 15: the election of the committee chairman and deputy for the 2019-20 session.

But after meetings that dragged on for more than 26 hours, the committee, which scrutinises bills introduced into the council and decides when they are put to a final vote, has remained leaderless, resulting in a backlog of bills and subsidiary legislation.

The opposition pan-democrats, who have blocked the election of the chairman, came under repeated attacks last week from the cabinet-level Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO), Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong, and the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong.

Dennis Kwok has been presiding over the committee. Photo: Dickson Lee

Observers and former Legco veterans have pointed out that it was “incomprehensible” why the pro-establishment camp appeared passive over wresting control of the situation, either by invoking council rules favouring the incumbent chairman to take action, or by seeking further legal opinion.

Legal sector lawmaker Dennis Kwok, of the opposition Civic Party, has been presiding over the committee’s meetings for procedural reasons since the beginning of the legislative session in October.

The pro-establishment camp has accused Kwok of allowing opposition lawmakers to speak at length to delay the vote. In a stormy meeting on Friday, marked by shouts and accusations, the committee again failed to break the impasse.