CHINA-HONGKONG: POLITICAL UNCERTAINTY

 The newly-formed Hong Kong National Party (HKNP) has attracted a lot of notice from the media in Hongkong as well as critical comment from the Mainland Chinese authorities. The PRC State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office issued a statement through the official Xinhua news agency on March 29, 2016, following the announcement of the formation of Hong Kong National Party on March 26, 2016. Zhang Xiaoming, the Director of Beijing's Liaison Office in Hong Kong, said the formation of a political party advocating Hong Kong's independence has 'exceeded free speech'. Zhang Xiaoming said the matter had touched on the bottom line of the One Country, Two Systems principle, and cannot be tolerated. In an interview with Phoenix TV on March 31, 2016, Zhang Xiaoming said the founding of the new party “went beyond the realm of the freedom of expression ... and must not be tolerated”.

Meanwhile, the The Hong Kong National Party said it had six major items on its agenda, including the establishment of an independent and free “Hong Kong Republic” and the abolition of the Basic Law. It also claimed that the Companies Registry has refused to register it “because of political reasons”
Hongkong media commented that in addition to antagonizing Beijing and its local loyalists, the HKNP will challenge the local government’s already-weakening commitment to freedom of expression and rule of law. For example, in deference to Beijing’s hyper-sensitivity about splittists, local bureaucrats will be ordered to make life difficult for the HKNP if the group takes part in elections. Also, the extreme impracticality of the HKNP’s aim will make ordinary localism seem all the more moderate and mainstream. In order to counter the appeal of this rising movement, the pro-Beijing camp has to establish its own nativist credentials, hencecalls for actionagainst economic migrants posing as asylum seekers. This puts the loyalists at odds with the Hong Kong government, which is subject to international agreements on refugees. It also raises the possibility of the pro-Beijing camp going further off-script in exploring more ways to appeal to the Hongkongers-first vote.
 






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