TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Chinese State Council's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office released three announcements on Tuesday (April 21), claiming the central government's right to supervise Hong Kong and to defend the bottom line of "one country, two systems."

In the first announcement, the State Council blasted the pro-democracy legislator Dennis Kwok (郭榮鏗) and his colleagues for delaying the election of the Chairman of the House Committee for more than six months, alleging it caused the suffering of many as important bills were put on hold. It also accused him of interfering with the National Anthem Bill, labeling it a violation of his oath of office.

This announcement echoed the same accusation made by China's liaison office in Hong Kong, which previously shook the territory. Responding to the charges, Kwok stated these two Chinese offices have no right to wag their fingers over how Hong Kong's legislature should function. Whether the legislators fail in their duties or violate the Rules of Procedure should be judged by the courts and the Legislative Council itself.

At the same time, people also questioned whether Beijing is trying to distort Article 22 of the Hong Kong Basic Law, which states that no department of the Chinese central government nor provincial as well as municipal office can interfere in the affairs Hong Kong is guaranteed under the arrangement; that is, the territory is granted total administrative power outside of defense and diplomacy.

However, in its third announcement, the State Council claimed that the liaison office does not belong to the category mentioned in Article 22, but is an extended part of the central government. This position gives it the absolute power to supervise the implementation of "one country, two systems" and the Basic law in Hong Kong as well as the functioning of the government.

This argument glaringly contradicts the document Bejing handed to Hong Kong's Legislative Council in 2007, which states that the liaison office was one of the three offices the Chinese established in the city based on Article 22.

According to Johannes Chan (陳文敏), former Dean of the University of Hong Kong's Faculty of Law, the liaison office has always been responsible only for coordinating activities between Beijing and Hong Kong. No law grants it the power to supervise the implementation of the Basic Law and to intervene in Hong Kong's internal affairs, Initium Media reported.

As the State Council publicly supported the arrest of pro-democracy figures and implied further intrusions into Hong Kong's legislative authority, many worried that Kuo and other elected legislators would be soon removed from office and face legal charges.

"If a legislator who follows the legal procedure to suspend some local legislation will be considered a violator of the one country policy, the Legislative Council will only become another National People's Congress of China," Kwok said. He told Radio Television Hong Kong that it would be the honor of his lifetime if he were to be pulled from the legislature because of his fight for freedom and democracy in Hong Kong.