Disqualifed Lawmakers Should Not Stay On: Paul Tse

One of the pro-establishment lawmakers who met on Monday with a top mainland official visiting Hong Kong has spoken out against the idea of allowing his four pan-democratic counterparts disqualified from the now-delayed 2020 Legco election to stay on for one more year.

Zhang Xiaoming, a deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office and a former head of the liaison office in Hong Kong, is said to be on a visit to Hong Kong to listen to views on the matter, amid debate whether Alvin Yeung, Kwok Ka-ki, Dennis Kwok and Kenneth Leung should be allowed to remain in the legislature during the one-year vacuum.

Earlier on Monday, a number of pro-government lawmakers, including Ma Fung-kwok, Paul Tse and Junius Ho, were seen leaving the liaison office.

Tse said afterwards that it won't be logical to let the four pan-democrats stay on, and that people who don't uphold the Basic Law and swear allegiance to the SAR are not qualified to be legislators.

That goes against comments by the Chief Executive on Friday when she postponed the election. Carrie Lam said she believes the lawmakers, despite their disqualification from the now-delayed vote, should remain in Legco until the election in 2021.

Zhang is said to be taking a neutral stance on the issue during his meeting with the pro-establishment camp.

News of the visit comes ahead of a meeting by the National People's Congress Standing Committee, which will come up with a decision on the way forward. But it's not immediately known if delegates will address the issue in their meeting that starts on Saturday.

Tse also said electoral officers should finish processing the nominations for the now-postponed polls, so people will find out whether more hopefuls will be banned from running.

And in the coming year, he said the legislature should focus on livelihood issues, such as anti-epidemic policies and reforms to the MPF scheme, instead of controversial political matters such as Basic Law Article 23 national security legislation.