Britain's ex-Hong Kong governor accuses China of conducting 'outrageous political purge'

Conservative leader and Britain’s last colonial governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, accused China of carrying out an “outrageous political purge” in the semi-autonomous region. He lambasted the Chinese government for disqualifying a dozen candidates of pro-democracy parties, including high-profile activists Joshua Wong and Lester Shum, in an upcoming election.

Patten said in a statement that the national security law is being used to disenfranchise the majority of Hong Kong’s citizens. He added that such behaviour from the administration is expected in a police state and it is now “illegal to believe” in democracy. The pro-democracy politicians have been hoping to get a majority in the partially elected legislature but the disqualification has served a major blow.

The government disqualified the candidates, saying they could not be considered to be abiding by the constitutional duty required of lawmakers under the new law. The range of violations includes advocating for, or promoting, Hong Kong's independence or soliciting intervention by foreign governments in Hong Kong's affairs.

"There is no question of any political censorship, restriction of the freedom of speech or deprivation of the right to stand for elections as alleged by some members of the community," the government said in a statement announcing disqualifications.

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'Biggest-ever crackdowns'

In a Twitter statement, Wong said that he was disqualified from running the upcoming LegCo election even after getting the highest vote share in the primary elections. He said that the government disqualified him because he had described the national security law as a draconian law. He had accused Beijing of staging the biggest-ever crackdowns on the city’s election by disqualifying nearly all pro-democracy runners.

Last week, the UK Home Office released a policy statement on the new immigration arrangements for BN(O) citizens and their dependents in Hong Kong which will create an immigration route to move to the UK to work and study. The government decided to open this new immigration route after China arbitrarily implemented the draconian national security law.

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