Today the oath taking ceremony at the Legislative Council in HongKong turned into a protest against China. Lawmakers who were supposed to take their oaths start their official duty as the lawmaker of HongKong made an oath protest. Many new lawmakers who had key roles in the pro-democracy protests in 2014 refused to read the oath that had the phrase “Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China” multiple times.
“Mr Leung and Mr Wai-ching, members of the pro-independence Youngspiration party, swore while saying their oaths and mispronounced “China”. The pair also displayed a banner with the words “HK is not China”. The third protester, Mr Yiu, an independent, added lines to his oath, saying he would “fight for genuine universal suffrage”. said the report in the BBC.
Secretary General Kenneth Chen dismissed their oaths stating it to be invalid.
At least ten of lawmakers protested at the oath taking ceremony by displaying banners with “HongKong is NOT China” on the stage. Leung Kwow-hung, also known as “Long Hair”, also brought a yellow umbrella to the stage to symbolise the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement of 2014. He also ripped up a “831 ruling” according to reports.
Many of them also emphasised about bearing they true allegiance to the HongKong nation not mentioning China, that strongly implied their demand for an independent nation for HongKong.
The lawmakers refused to properly read HongKong is a special administrative region of People’s Republic of China. Instead they went on to pronounce China as ‘Chee-na’ which is an archaic Japanese name for China that bears an offensive meaning to many Chinese.
Yau Wai-ching of Youngspiration referred to the “People’s Republic of China” as the “People’s Ref*cking of Chee-na.” in her second attempt. She did not mention the phrase in her first attempt of oath and the secretary told her to retake the oath. Follow the link to view their oath videos.