BEIJING - After a succession of recent moves to crack down on democracy in Hong Kong, Beijing on Tuesday appeared to show a little restraint and refrained from pushing out four of the city's opposition lawmakers.
"From Beijing's point of view, the intention is the prevention and control of conflict and controversy, so Hong Kong can concentrate on tackling the pandemic and dealing with livelihood issues," said Prof Lau Siu Kai, a former Hong Kong government official who is now a senior Beijing adviser on Hong Kong policy.
Authorities have arrested young activists for posts on social media and dismissed a tenured law professor from his job at a university. In late July, they disqualified 12 pro-democracy candidates, including the four incumbent lawmakers, from running in the next legislative election. Officials cited grounds for disqualification that included objecting to the national security law.
Beijing appeared to have decided that removing the lawmakers this month was not worth the trouble, said Prof Michael C. Davis, a retired University of Hong Kong law professor who is now a senior research scholar at Columbia University.Beijing might also have wanted to avoid giving the United States another reason to attack China while relations are in a downward spiral, in part over Hong Kong.
"If they do not follow this path, they do not have any political careers in this system, they can only act as street fighters, which makes them vulnerable to punishment by the law," Prof Lau said.
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