A journalist films two young leaders of violent protests in Hong Kong, Agnes Chow Ting (left) and Joshua Wong Chi-fung (right) as they speak to the press on Friday. Photo: AFP

Hong Kong pro-West separatist and activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung was barred from running in Hong Kong district council election on Tuesday as his nomination was ruled to be invalid, and experts warned that the Hong Kong society should abandon the people like Wong who gain political capital by ruining the public order and flattering the foreign anti-China forces. Otherwise if they get political power, the people of Hong Kong will have a dark future, they said. 

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said in a press release on Tuesday that it "supports the making of decisions on the validity of nomination by the Returning Officers in accordance with the law."

"The candidate cannot possibly comply with the requirements of the relevant electoral laws, since advocating or promoting 'self-determination' is contrary to the content of the declaration that the law requires a candidate to make to uphold the Basic Law and pledge allegiance to the HKSAR," the statement said.

Wong later responded to the decision. He blamed that such decision "is clearly politically driven," and said "The so-called reason is judging subjectively on my intention to uphold the Basic Law… But I have never actively advocated independence as an option," the South China Morning Post reported.

Zhi Zhenfeng, a legal expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, told the Global Times that whether Joshua Wong admits his separatist political stance or not, the decision is totally correct and has nothing to do with so-called "politically driven decision." 

Given what Wong and his followers did, especially in past few months, it is not hard to find out that he is an extreme separatist against China's sovereignty in the HKSAR and desperately wants the foreign interference to boost his own influence in the city, to back him and his followers' behaviors of ruining Hong Kong's public order, Zhi said. 

Not only his behaviors, Wong's articles published in the past also could be proof. 

"As early as in 2016, Wong published an article on demosisto.hk saying that 'Hong Kong independence' is an option for Hong Kong to decide its own future," Elizabeth Quat Pui-fan, a pro-establishment lawmaker in Hong Kong said.

Quat mentioned that Wong's anti-governmental words and deeds make it hard to believe that he will sincerely safeguard the "one country, two systems" principle and the Basic Law, which Quat believed are the basic responsibilities for candidates.

"Thus, it is completely impossible for Wong to perform his duty as a candidate," Quat told the Global Times. 

"Self-determination" or changing the HKSAR system by supporting the Hong Kong separatism as an option for self-determination is inconsistent with the constitutional and legal status of the HKSAR as stipulated in the Basic Law, as well as the established basic policies of the People's Republic of China regarding Hong Kong, the statement read. 

Wong's secessionist organization Demosisto announced in September that Wong would run in Hong Kong's district council election in November.

"Hong Kong can only achieve good democracy by excluding separatists and rioters like Wong out of its power system," Zhi noted.

"People like Wong will destroy Hong Kong society. If they enter the power system of Hong Kong, Hong Kong's future will be even more shadowed," Zhi said, "and for these people, Hong Kong is nothing but a bargain chip or a pawn for them. It can be sacrificed at any time and they can just escape to the US or other region. They won't treat Hong Kong as their home."

Lau Siu-kai, vice-president of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, said that he was not surprised by the news. 

"The HKSAR government has already taken a very lenient approach in determining the qualification of the candidates for Hong Kong's district council election. Wong is the only person disqualified," he said.

According to the Hong Kong-based pro-establishment newspaper Ta Kung Pao in August, Wong "admitted" his interactions with officials including Julie Eadeh from the US consulate general in Hong Kong. 

Ta Kung Pao said Eadeh was involved in plotting subversive actions under the name of human rights and democracy when she was stationed in the Middle East as a diplomat.

"Given Wong's separatist inclination and his close relationship with the anti-China American politicians, it is hard for the electoral officials to believe that he is loyal to Hong Kong and China and thus is qualified as a candidate," Lau said.

Wong was a leader of the illegal Occupy Central Movement in 2014. He was arrested in August for allegedly inciting others to participate in unapproved assemblies and violently besieging police headquarters in June. He was later released on bail. 

Chinese observers believed that Wong is actually very clear that he will be barred from the election if he participated in it as a candidate but he intended to trigger this incident and use it to interrupt the atmosphere of the upcoming election in November, and probably to add more political capital and attract more attention to serve his future political activities.