Pro-independence talk at FCC ‘undoubtedly illegal’, claims senior Beijing official

Hong Kong National Party convenor Andy Chan speaks at the FCC: pic screen grab via FCC Facebook
Hong Kong National Party convenor Andy Chan speaks at the FCC: pic screen grab via FCC Facebook

Further ratcheting up the rhetoric and saying he supported “punishment”, the Beijing official in charge of Hong Kong affairs has called talk by a pro-independence advocate at the Foreign Correspondents Club this week “undoubtedly illegal.”

Speaking to reporters in Beijing yesterday, Director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office Zhang Xiaoming attacked the FCC for hosting Hong Kong National Party convenor Andy Chan on Tuesday.

Zhang criticized the club for ignoring advice by the city’s government and the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which had pushed the club to cancel the lunchtime talk.

He said it was “more than provocative” and called it an “undoubtedly illegal” action which, he claimed, violated the Basic Law and criminal laws, such as colonial-era seditious intention provisions of the Crimes Ordinance.

“The Hong Kong National Party, Andy Chan Ho-tin and the FCC have already gone beyond freedom of speech and freedom of the press,” Zhang said in a video of his exchange with reporters uploaded to YouTube by RTHK.

“Chan has publicly advocated Hong Kong Independence, recruited members and raised funds. He also claimed to save Hong Kong with weapons. These are the facts indicating that Chan has been deliberately inciting to split the country.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0myPrbWtbf0

Zhang added he supported the Hong Kong government to punish Chan and the FCC.

However, despite Zhang’s assertion, executive councillor and lawmaker Regina Ip earlier in the day said the FCC had not breached any domestic laws in allowing Chan to talk at the club, according to RTHK.

However, the former security minister said the speech showed why Hong Kong needs new national security laws, a call echoed Executive Councillor Ronny Tong.

Chan’s small party faces already an unprecedented ban by the Hong Kong police, which have claimed it poses a “threat to national security.”  

His speech — which compared China to colonizers and said Beijing was “destroying” Hong Kong — further riled officials who have said even the discussion of separatism “crossed a red line”.

Prominent figures pro-establishment figures, including former chief executive CY Leung, have trained their guns on the FCC and, in particular, its lease of its iconic government-owned building in Central.

Recently asked about whether the government would consider taking back the FCC’s clubhouse, chief executive Carrie Lam said the government enjoyed a “very cordial” relationship with the club and there was “no question” of it changing.

She said the location of the speech was not the “core issue”, according to HKFP. 



Reader Interactions

Leave A Reply


BECOME A COCO+ MEMBER

Support local news and join a community of like-minded
“Coconauts” across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.

Join Now
Coconuts TV
Our latest and greatest original videos
Subscribe on