HONG KONG - Various sectors throughout the city on Friday threw their weight behind the returning officers’ decision to bar 12 aspiring candidates from standing for the upcoming Legislative Council election.

Many of those who were disqualified from standing for the upcoming LegCo election were involved in issues of “independence”, Lo Sui-on, director and honorary chairman of China Travel Service, said

Their remarks came after the 12 candidates, including activists Joshua Wong Chi-fung and Dennis Kwok Wing-hang, were rejected on grounds of not complying with electoral and other relevant rules. The violations that the rejected candidates committed included holding a pro-independence stance, soliciting foreign intervention, opposing in principle the National Security Law for Hong Kong, attempting as a legislator to vote down all government bills, and refusing to recognize China’s exercise of sovereignty over the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Former magistrate and barrister Symon Wong Yu-wing said that the disqualifications were resolute and appropriate.

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The disqualified candidates allegedly breached the National Security Law repeatedly by calling for separation from the nation and have begged foreign powers to sanction Hong Kong, Wong said, referring to members of the Civic Party — including Kwok Ka-ki, Dennis Kwok and Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu — who have allegedly openly solicited foreign powers to undermine national security. He said that although some of the disqualified opposition candidates had signed the confirmation, required under electoral laws, to support the Basic Law and pledged allegiance to the SAR government to gain public acceptance, their past actions have made it hard for people to trust them.

Lo Sui-on, director and honorary chairman of China Travel Service (Hong Kong), agreed.

He said that the opposition bent on mutual destruction paid only lip service to support of the “one country, two systems” principle. In fact, their behavior was different, he added. It was unacceptable that they have, in the name of freedom, touched on the issue of separatism through their words and deeds.

Many of those who were disqualified were involved in issues of “independence”, and LegCo elections could be turned into their platforms to advocate their pro-independence ideology, he added.

Brave Chan Yung, a Hong Kong deputy to the National People’s Congress, the nation’s top legislature, emphasized that the disqualification decisions were based on law and reason. 

He said that even the followers of those who were disqualified harbored doubts about their sincerity when they claimed they uphold the Basic Law and pledged allegiance to the SAR, and that they showed no sign of regret about what they did. He said he believed the opposition candidates deserved to be disqualified. 

The Hong Kong CPPCC (Provincial) Members Association in a statement also supported the decisions by the returning officers. 

As a lawmaker, the fundamental constitutional responsibility is to uphold the Basic Law and be loyal to the SAR, the statement read.

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The Legislative Council is no place for supporters of “Hong Kong independence” or “self determination” or those people who try to destroy “one country, two systems” by collaborating with foreign powers to interfere in Hong Kong’s internal affairs, it continued.

What the government and the public need are legislators who genuinely support “one country, two systems” and take efforts to address people’s needs and lay the solid groundwork for the second economic take-off of Hong Kong, it stressed.