Medical team members of the Second Hospital of Shangdong University swear an oath on Sunday before leaving for Hubei Province in Jinan, capital of east China's Shandong Province. Photo: Xinhua

A resolution passed by a Hong Kong district council urging police chief Chris Tang Ping-keung to go to Wuhan to assist the ongoing fight against the novel coronavirus is "purely a political show," noted Hong Kong analysts.

The Sai Kung district council passed several unanimous resolutions on Tuesday, reported Hong Kong media. One of them required Tang to go to Wuhan, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak, to show the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF)'s commitment to serving with honour, duty and loyalty. 

Tang became the chief of the HKPF last November amid the city's months-long protests and became known for his hardline stance in quelling the violent protests that had engulfed the city since June.

Other resolutions passed included urging the government to set restrictions on exports, sending chartered flights to return those still in Wuhan to Hong Kong and shutting the city's border with the mainland.

Early this month, opposition councilors in the Yuen Long district council also passed similar resolutions including urging Tang and 3,000 frontline officers to go to Wuhan. 

"This is purely a political show," said Tang Fei, a member of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, noting that district councils have no power to direct the police chief.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government has already closed some border crossings with the mainland to curb the spread of the deadly virus. Nonetheless, medical workers of a newly founded, politically motivated union, the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance, demanded a full closure of the border.

Victor Chan Chi-ho, vice chairman of the Hong Kong Association of Young Commentators, called the resolutions "irrational political decisions" which offer no help in epidemic prevention work in either the mainland or Hong Kong.

"They are just adding more troubles and wasting the precious time of council meetings, which is regrettable," Chan told the Global Times on Wednesday.