Hong Kong backs China bid to bar rebel lawmakers

Hong Kong: Hong Kong's leader said today he would "fully implement" a ruling by Beijing which effectively bars two elected pro-independence lawmakers from the city's legislature after they deliberately misread their oaths of office.

It comes as fears grow that China is tightening its grip on the semi-autonomous city with concerns that Hong Kong's rule of law and court system are now under threat.

Beijing's intervention pre-empts a decision by Hong Kong's High Court into whether rebel lawmakers Baggio Leung and Yau Wai-ching should be disqualified from taking up their seats. That court decision is still pending.

An oath that did not conform to Hong Kong's law "should be determined to be invalid, and cannot be retaken", the Communist-controlled National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing said in a rare interpretation of the city's constitution.

Hong Kong's leader Leung Chun-ying told reporters that he and the city government would "implement the interpretation fully".

"Any words or deeds that deliberately contravene (the interpretation's) requirements, defy the prescribed oath-taking procedures, or even use the opportunity to insult the country and the Chinese people and advocate cessation, must be stopped in accordance with the law," Leung said.

Hong Kong is a former British colony which returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a promise of "one country, two systems" for 50 years.

But there are deep concerns those liberties, enshrined in the city's constitution known as the Basic Law, are at risk, and mass protests two years ago demanded greater democracy.

As frustrations build, an independence movement demanding a split from Beijing has emerged.

Yau and Baggio included expletives and derogatory terms in their oaths of office last month, and draped themselves in "Hong Kong is not China" flags.

They sought a second chance to take their oaths, but both the Hong Kong government and Beijing have stepped in to prevent that.

Beijing sees any talk of independence as treasonous and the official Xinhua news agency quoted a spokesman for the government's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office welcoming the ruling.

"The interpretation demonstrates the central government's firm determination and will in opposing 'Hong Kong independence,'" the spokesperson said, adding that it "complies with the common aspiration of the entire Chinese people, including the compatriots in Hong Kong".