Benny Tai Dismisses Subversion Claim As 'nonsense'

Occupy founder Benny Tai on Tuesday dismissed as ‘nonsense’ Beijing’s suggestion that he may have breached the new national security law by organising the opposition camp’s primary poll over the weekend, saying claims that he had subverted state power are ‘absurd.’

Beijing’s Liaison Office had late on Monday night put out a statement accusing Tai of trying to seize power in Hong Kong and launch a ‘colour revolution.’

It said the opposition’s bid to win a majority in the Legco election in September to veto important bills like the budget amounts to subversion.

But the academic, who served a prison term over his role in the pro-democracy 2014 Occupy protests, hit back, saying the power to veto the government’s budget as a means to pressure the administration is fully authorised under the Basic Law.

“These are arrangements of the relationships between the executive and legislative authorities provided in the Basic Law. In no way that any unlawful means would be involved”, Tai wrote in a social media post.

“It is absurd for alleging this as subverting the state. Also, the allegation ignores the clear wordings of the Basic Law.”

He also rejected separate charges by the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office that the primary had limited the right and freedom of people to run in the upcoming election.

“For those who joined the primary elections, they make their decision to run or not run in the official election independently. They are not under any form of coercion”, Tai wrote.

He said if the central government considers the 610,000 voters who cast ballots in the primary to have broken the law, “it will make governance even more difficult in the future and will provoke even more radical protests.”

“If they have not contravened any law, then any person assisting them in voting would also not be unlawful”, he added.

Democratic Party lawmaker James To echoed Tai’s contention that Beijing’s criticism of the primary election is “absurd.”

“The more the Beijing government or the related agencies attack us the better chance that we [will get more] support from the community, and the better chance that we may really have the opportunity to get a majority in the coming Legco.”