Photo:Xinhua

Opposition lawmakers in Hong Kong's legislative council resigned en masse Wednesday afternoon in protest of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) government's move to disqualify four opposition lawmakers according to the decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. This is ridiculous. The opposition lawmakers have cut themselves off from Hong Kong's political system established on the Basic Law as well as Hong Kong society. They have to bear the consequences. 

First, it is an unreasonable and malicious act of political confrontation that runs counter to the spirit of the law. The purpose of setting up a parliament in any society is always to promote good governance, while these opposition lawmakers, who have tried to paralyze the legislative council before, are now making a destructive transformation of democracy by hyping the resignation en masse and turning it into a bid to tear Hong Kong apart. Their resignation revealed that the opposition in Hong Kong had gone astray and completely lost their normal sense of responsibility, and sense of honor and dignity.

It is useless for them to do so and will not stop Hong Kong's new pace of progress from chaos to stability under governance. Nineteen opposition lawmakers were disqualified or resigned. Without them, the legislature can still continue to function. They hoped to create a massive political mobilization in Hong Kong society. However, they misjudged the situation, and also seriously overestimated the impact of this campaign.

The pandemic has had extensive impact on values of each society and promoted the shift of focus of public opinion. Many societies are dwelling on what people's fundamental interests are and how to practice democracy from more angles. People desire stability -- this is an inevitable trend in troubled times. This is particularly the case given Hong Kong's epidemic and last year's turmoil. The opposition lawmakers hope Hongkongers could respond to them by creating greater chaos, but have made a wrong calculation. 

There will also be no substantial assistance coming from the outside as the opposition expects. Even at the peak when Washington exerted various kinds of pressure, the policy implementation to stabilize the situation by the SAR government with the support of the central government was not disrupted. The US sanction measures were only met with contempt. Now the US is deeply mired in the COVID-19 epidemic and has fallen into a serious controversy following the presidential election. What card will Washington still have since it has almost played all of the cards it has? 

The Hong Kong opposition has been unable to get out of their fundamental misjudgment, mistakenly believing that they have capital to confront the central government. Hong Kong is a part of China. It must be China, rather than the US or any other Western force, that will dominate the city's future. The "One country, two systems" principle is enshrined in the Basic Law. For one thing, it will protect Hong Kong's autonomy; and for another, it will safeguard the country's dominance over Hong Kong--in other words, the central government's overall governance over Hong Kong. There is absolutely no role that the US and the West could play in the governance of Hong Kong.

Whom does the opposition lawmakers want to threaten by resigning together? The People's Republic of China has withstood so many difficulties and critical junctures. Washington has tried everything to suppress Beijing in recent years. Is there one time that Beijing was frightened? Will Beijing be afraid of the more than a dozen lawmakers, and worry that the opposition could stir trouble larger than they did last year? They have overestimated themselves. 

Some analysts believe that the opposition lawmakers intended to garner more public support by resigning en masse so that they could gain more benefits in the next election. It's only wishful thinking. The masters of Hong Kong are the citizens of the city and Chinese people. The opposition cannot act willfully in the city. The new process that Hong Kong will transit from chaos to stability under governance is unstoppable. Those who try to obstruct the process with an overestimation of their ability will end up in failure, as what has been repeated in history. 

The Hong Kong opposition must know that Hong Kong is not a country, but only a special administrative region under the rule of China. The Hong Kong opposition can only engage in activities and play a role in Hong Kong internal affairs under the Basic Law. It's a dead end to oppose the central government and wrestle with the country by colluding with external forces. The Hong Kong opposition have reached the crossroads. They must choose.