After Beijing tightened its grip on Hong Kong through its version of the National Security Law, the city’s free space was severely squeezed and authorities began requiring civil servants to take an oath or sign a declaration of allegiance to the Basic Law and the government late last year. However, the Hong Kong authorities said on the 8th that more than 100 to 200 civil servants did not sign the declaration of allegiance, they must leave their jobs.
By forcing civil servants to pledge allegiance, critics accuse the Hong Kong authorities of trying to eliminate dissenting voices within the civil service. But analysts say this is in line with Beijing’s “patriot rule” scheme to keep Hong Kong firmly in the palm of its hand.
Hong Kong Civil Service Secretary Nip Tak-kuen said on March 8 that nearly 200 civil servants had not signed a declaration of support for the ‘Basic Law’ and allegiance to the Hong Kong SAR, and under the mechanism, they must leave the civil service.
The director said that if civil servants refuse to sign the declaration to accept and assume basic responsibilities, the government will lose confidence in them and will therefore arrange for them to leave the civil service. Nip Tak Kuen further explained that the civil service team should clearly know and accept that love for the country means love for the People’s Republic of China and that the ruling organ of the People’s Republic of China is the Communist Party.
According to Hong Kong authorities’ statistics, there are currently more than 170,000 civil servants in Hong Kong, excluding judges and judicial officers, ICAC officers and locally employed staff of Hong Kong’s economic and trade offices abroad.
Hong Kong’s “anti-China” movement erupted in 2019, with more than a million people taking to the streets to demonstrate, a movement supported by many civil servants. Many civil servants participated in the demonstrations and rallies, and even took the initiative to organize rallies to call on other civil servants to participate.
To strengthen control and enforce Beijing’s “patriot rule”, the government began requiring civil servants to take an oath or sign a declaration of allegiance to the SAR government and support the Basic Law late last year.
Xia Baolong, director of China’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, said last month that “patriots ruling Hong Kong” must always be upheld, saying that no one should be allowed to do “things that undermine the socialist system led by the Communist Party of China” and that “patriots “must cherish the protection of national sovereignty, security, development interests, respect for the maintenance of the country’s fundamental system and the constitutional order of Hong Kong.
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