HK separatists stoop to threats and blackmail

Four years ago when the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was preparing for an electoral reform package with the aim of implementing universal suffrage for the chief executive election in 2017, there were threats of political consequences from those seeking a new electoral system.

So when fresh warnings about political consequences were issued should a couple of their favored candidates fail the eligibility test for the March 11 Legislative Council by-election, it triggered a strong sense of déjà vu.

It seems that they have yet to learn a lesson from their miscalculations in the past.

The 79-day illegal “Occupy Central” campaign launched in fall of 2014 — the political consequences they threatened — failed to help them achieve their goals. Rather, it caused havoc in the region in terms of economic losses, and dealt a damaging blow to their image. The subsequent court cases have seen several leaders and participants jailed for various unlawful behaviors during the campaign.

The key lesson to learn from the “Occupy Central” fiasco is that trying to blackmail the government into doing something will not pay off in the SAR, where rule of law is cherished as one of its core values.

Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has rightly rejected the demand that she promise that certain candidates will not be disqualified from the March 11 by-election of Hong Kong’s local legislature. She would have violated the law were she to make such a promise.

As she said on Tuesday, all elections in Hong Kong are fair, open and conducted according to the law with the eligibility of candidates decided by the requirements set out by the Electoral Affairs Commission, one of which is the pledge to uphold HK’s Basic Law.

Several candidates who had championed separatism in Hong Kong, which is against the Basic Law, were barred from running by election officers in the 2016 Legislative Council election. Candidates who plan to run in the upcoming by-election have no reasons to worry about their eligibility if they have not advocated separatism.

The Legislative Council is a key part of the political establishment of the SAR, which is an inalienable part of the People’s Republic of China, and anyone who does not sincerely embrace SAR’s political setup shall never be admitted into the legislative chamber.