Hong Kong National Party ban upheld by panel which says it doesn’t trust group not ‘to resort to violence’ in independence bid
- Executive Committee trio rule against appeal by Andy Chan and Jason Chow
- HKNP could still take matter to court after party is branded unlawful
The Hong Kong National Party’s appeal against an unprecedented ban has been turned down by the city’s leader and her cabinet, with officials saying they believed the outlawed party could “resort to violence or advocate violence” in pursuit of a “Republic of Hong Kong”, the Post has learned.
In a three-page response to party founders Andy Chan Ho-tin and Jason Chow Ho-fai, officials said the primary objective of the party, an independent Hong Kong, was unlawful.
While Chan has always maintained that the party opposed violence, his statement in 2016 that HKNP would use “whatever effective means” to split from China has come back to haunt him.
Confirmation of the ban came on Thursday as Wang Zhimin, the head of Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong, revealed that a former security minister, and two former police chiefs, had given their “professional opinions” regarding the ban.
A legal source confirmed that a three-member panel – barrister and lawmaker Martin Liao Cheung-kong, former stock exchange chairman Chow Chung-kong, and former Monetary Authority chief Joseph Yam Chi-kwong – appointed by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and the Executive Council, had dismissed the appeal.