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Hong Kong Tensions Rise as Leung Fights Anti-China Lawmakers (1)

(Bloomberg) -- The battle over Hong Kong’s relationship with China paralyzed local politics for a third straight week as the city’s legislature broke down over a government bid to oust two pro-independence lawmakers.

The Hong Kong Legislative Council, which typically meets once a week while in session, descended into shouting and protests on Wednesday as lawmakers disbanded without doing any business. At issue was the fate of two young lawmakers -- both among a new crop of more radical democracy advocates elected last month -- who altered their oaths of office on Oct. 12 to include insults against the rest of China.

The city’s Beijing-backed leader, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, has drawn a hard line against the “localist” lawmakers, asking the courts to block a second swearing-in ceremony and vacate their seats. A hearing is scheduled for Nov. 3 on his petition.

The showdown not only tests the tolerance for dissent in the former British colony, it risks reigniting tensions that led to political unrest two years ago, when pro-democracy protesters barricaded city streets for 79 days. It could also shift the balance of power among Hong Kong’s executive, legislative and judicial branches.

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Neither side has much incentive to bend before 1,200 electors meet in March to select a chief executive for the next five years.The unpopular Leung, who hasn’t yet said whether he’ll seek a second term, would need China’s backing to secure re-election from the committee, which is typically dominated by Beijing loyalists.

Pro-democracy groups, meanwhile, are trying to motivate supporters for a December vote to choose the electors.

To read more about Hong Kong’s fight for democracy, click here

“Many politicians in this chamber will exploit every opportunity to influence the outcome of these two very important elections,” said Regina Ip, 66, a pro-establishment lawmaker frequently mentioned as a potential challenger to Leung. “Our LegCo, unfortunately because of the big issues thundering in the background, will be dysfunctional for a while.”

While Leung’s legislative program includes a HK$1 billion ($129 million) scholarship program and a HK$249 million study for a vast new urban area in the city’s western reaches, a short-term deadlock may actually benefit the chief executive. Among the first items on the agenda is a petition to investigate whether Leung failed to disclose a HK$50 million payment from an Australian construction company, which he has said was handled appropriately.

‘Radical Separatists’

The two lawmakers at the center of the fight -- Sixtus “Baggio” Leung, 30, and Yau Wai-ching, 25 -- are members of the localist movement that emerged after the 2014 Occupy protests failed to secure greater autonomy from the Chinese government. The pair say they “personally support” independence and have campaigned with another group denounced by Beijing’s liaison to Hong Kong as “radical separatists” and “inclined toward terrorism.”

“If we don’t handle this properly, there will be serious and far-ranging repercussions because it will influence the way the central government views Hong Kong,” Leung Chun-ying told reporters Tuesday. “It will impact the relationship and feelings between mainland and Hong Kong people.”

Oath Insults

Ivan Choy, a senior politics lecturer at Chinese University of Hong Kong, said the crisis provided Leung a chance to prove his loyalty. “Even if the court ruling goes against him, in the eyes of Beijing, he has used all methods available to him,” Choy said.

During their first attempts to take the oath, Sixtus Leung and Yau unfurled banners proclaiming “Hong Kong IS NOT China” and repeatedly pronounced the country’s name as “Chee-na,” a derogatory term for the country. Yau also three times inserted an expletive while reciting the formal name of the People’s Republic.

“It is our right to enter this chamber,” Sixtus Leung said Wednesday after he and Yau, surrounded by supporters and media, barged past security and took up their positions in the 70-seat legislature. Proceedings were adjourned after the pair refused to leave, urged on by other pro-democracy lawmakers.

To read about the localist lawmakers causing Beijing grief, click here

Before the meeting, thousands of pro-Beijing protesters gathered outside the legislature. They waved banners that read “Hong Kong belongs to China,” and “Don’t humiliate China, No Hong Kong Independence.”

Andrew Leung, the legislature’s new pro-establishment president, initially said he would allow the pair to retake their oaths before reversing course after the chief executive sued and his legislative allies threatened to boycott proceedings. Lawmakers said the deadlock could continue at least until next week’s court hearing.

Dennis Kwok from the legal sector was among a group of opposition lawmakers to call on the legislature president to step down, saying he had lost the confidence of pro-democracy members.

“This is the ramification of the hard-line policy taken by Beijing toward Hong Kong,” Kwok said. “If Beijing doesn’t change its policy and its man in Hong Kong, then we are going to have this continuation of this paralysis.”

(Updates with opposition lawmaker’s call for legislature chief’s resignation in penultimate paragraph.)

--With assistance from Natasha Khan To contact the reporter on this story: David Tweed in Hong Kong at dtweed@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Ten Kate at dtenkate@bloomberg.net, Brendan Scott

©2016 Bloomberg L.P.