Quitting Legco A Relief, Wu Chi-wai Says

The outgoing convenor of the pan-democratic camp in the Legislative Council, Wu Chi-wai, says departing the legislature will be nothing more than a relief.

Wu, who is also chairman of the Democratic Party, was one of 15 pro-democracy lawmakers to submit resignations on Thursday after Beijing moved to oust four members of the camp it considers behaved unpatriotically.

Speaking on RTHK's Hong Kong Today programme on Friday, Wu defended the camp's disruptive tactics in Legco, including filibustering and disrupting meetings by demanding quorum counts, saying that the authorities had not responded to the demands of last year's protest movement.

Asked whether he was sad to be leaving the legislature, Wu said it was more of a relief, and would not mark the end of the fight for democracy.

"I believe, as long as we can keep our determination to fight and never give up, then we can get the results," he told RTHK's Mike Weeks.

"I believe no dictatorship or authoritarian type of governance can sustain their regime forever so we have to keep up, because I believe democracy and freedom is the mainstream for people to work for in the coming future.

"It will come, definitely, one day."

Wu will officially leave Legco along with most of his colleagues on December 1. His party colleague, Ted Hui, resigned immediately on Thursday while Claudia Mo's resignation was to take effect on Friday.

Beijing has condemned the resignations, with its Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office describing them as an open challenge to the central government's authority and the Basic Law.