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Stopped by Beijing: Alvin Yeung, Dennis Kwok, Kwok Ka-Ki and Kenneth Leung
Photo: Vincent Yu / AP
In the end, a dry declaration from Beijing was enough and the last semblance of democracy and parliamentarism in Hong Kong was gone.
On Wednesday morning, the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Congress decided that no one could sit in the Hong Kong parliament who would endanger China's "national security".
Minutes later, the Hong Kong city government expelled four MPs from parliament.
In the afternoon, the remaining 15 pro-democratic MPs also announced their resignation.
Hong Kong would then no longer have a parliamentary opposition.
Hong Kong's Legislative Council has never been a truly democratic parliament.
Only half of the 70 MPs have been directly elected since the transfer of the former British crown colony to China in 1997, the rest of the seats have been given to interest groups loyal to Beijing.
But the elected MPs had the right to discuss and delay government action.
So far, they have also been able to prevent laws that required a two-thirds majority.
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No place of democracy: Hong Kong's Legislative Council
Photo: TYRONE SIU / REUTERS
That had long been a thorn in the side of the leadership in Beijing.
In China itself, the parliament, the National People's Congress, is only there to ratify the decisions of the Communist Party.
Hong Kong now also has such a sham and show parliament.
After the last parliamentary election in 2016, Beijing had enforced that a number of pro-democratic MPs were stripped of their seats.
Before the election planned in September and then postponed with reference to the corona crisis, other candidates were excluded, including democracy activist Joshua Wong.
One lever that Beijing has now used to disqualify four more MPs is the State Security Act passed at the end of June.
This draconian but vaguely worded law criminalizes treason, terrorism and collusion with foreign powers, among other things.
Dozens of activists have now been arrested under the law and awaiting trial, most of them just on bail.
The most prominent of them is the publisher Jimmy Lai.
The four MPs who were disqualified on Wednesday - lawyers Alvin Yeung and Dennis Kwok, doctor Kwok Ka-Ki and accountant Kenneth Leung - had already been banned from running again in the summer.
The fact that they have now been completely excluded robs the pro-democratic camp of the blocking minority with which it could have delayed or prevented at least some of the government's plans.
"Many will think of this day as a dark day. I find it difficult to say that it is not," said MP Kwok Ka-Ki.
"My mission to fight for democracy and freedom as a member of parliament cannot go on."
The principle of "one country, two systems", with which China's leadership has described Hong Kong's semi-autonomous status so far, has been "killed", according to James To of the Democratic Party.
Beijing decided to break "its promise to the whole world".
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Have been under political pressure from Beijing for years: Democracy activists and politicians in Hong Kong
Photo: Vincent Yu / AP
The pro-democracy MPs had been under pressure for years.
The majority in parliament cemented by Beijing spoke against them in principle;
Even a landslide victory like the one in the district elections in November 2019 would never have helped them dominate the Legislative Council.
At the same time, with the protest movement of 2019, resistance from the street also grew: For many activists, the pro-democratic MPs only legitimized the system of rule given by Beijing.
Beijing is now codifying this system.
"The political rule that Hong Kong must be ruled by patriots must be strictly guarded," said the central government's liaison office in Hong Kong.
Prime Minister Carrie Lam confirmed this on Wednesday afternoon by saying that she could not allow MPs "who, according to the law, could not meet the requirements and requirements for service on the Legislative Council to continue working".
Beijing no longer even gives the impression of allowing even a semi-democratic alternative to its autocratic model of rule in its sphere of influence.
"This is not just the coffin nail for democracy in Hong Kong," said an activist on Wednesday and asked not to give his name.
"They're trampling on her corpse."
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