China wants to nip in the bud any talk of Hong Kong’s independence

SO ANGRY were senior members of the Chinese Communist Party about the China-baiting manner in which two legislators in Hong Kong took their oaths of office that “their lungs exploded”. So said a party-controlled newspaper in the territory in an editorial this week warning that the pair, and others like them who call for Hong Kong’s independence, would “pay the price”. Hyperbole is common in the party’s rhetoric, but it is clear that the government in Beijing has lost patience with Hong Kong’s radicals. It appears ready to intervene to prevent the two from taking up their seats. Such a move is likely to fuel resentment in the territory of the party’s political control there.

As The Economist went to press, senior members of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s parliament, were believed to be meeting in Beijing. They were expected to discuss a response to the oath-taking on October 12th by Sixtus Leung and Yau Wai-ching, both from a party called Youngspiration. Mr Leung and Ms Yau pronounced China in a derogatory way and displayed a banner saying “Hong Kong is not China”. Ms Yau mumbled her words to make them sound like “People’s re-fucking” of China.