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.

To judge from Beijing-controlled newspapers in Hong Kong, the response will be clear: the two will not be given another chance to take their oaths, and will be disbarred from the Legislative Council, known as Legco. That would be a relief to some people in the territory. Since the swearing-in, Legco has been paralysed by bickering and brawls among legislators over whether the two should be allowed to swear in again, and whether they should be admitted to the chamber. In the latest such outbreak, on November 2nd, six of Legco’s security guards were taken to hospital after mêlées erupted (Ms Yau, in blue dress, and Mr Leung, rear centre, are pictured during one of them).

Courting trouble

But to many in the territory, intervention by the NPC would be a hugely unwelcome shock. Just as Chinese legislators were beginning their discussions in Beijing, Hong Kong’s High Court was launching proceedings in a case filed by the territory’s government that also aims to block the two from swearing in again. The local government’s legal move had already riled pro-democracy politicians in the territory, who note that legislators are often given another chance to swear in (playing with the wording of oaths on the first attempt is something of a tradition among feistier lawmakers). But the NPC’s effort to pre-empt the court’s decision by issuing a ruling of its own would be widely seen as a blow to Hong Kong’s judicial independence.

Although many had feared the NPC would eventually step in, few had expected it to show its hand without waiting for the case to make its way to Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal. Just this week, Hong Kong’s secretary for justice, Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung, had implied the case could be handled well enough by Hong Kong’s courts. He said Hong Kong’s judges would deal with it “in a fair, just and professional manner”. However, the chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, said there was a “possibility” that he might ask the NPC for help.

Few dispute that the national legislature has a right to make its own interpretations of the Basic Law, as Hong Kong’s constitution is known. Oath-taking by legislators is an issue covered by that document. But this would be the NPC’s first such pre-emptive move in a case only just getting under way in a Hong Kong court.

That it appears ready to do so is a sign of China’s fear of the rapid emergence of groups like Youngspiration. Their members, often called “localists”, not only resent the party’s political influence in Hong Kong, but also an influx of mainlanders into the territory. Localists won about 20% of the vote in elections to Legco that were held in September, enabling six of them (including the controversial pair) to win seats. It is their first representation in the 70-member body.

By intervening, however, the central government would risk reigniting the passions that flared in 2014 when demonstrators paralysed business districts with sit-ins for several weeks. The “Umbrella Movement”, as it was called, grew out of fears that the Communist Party was trying to cripple Hong Kong’s democracy. The protesters’ failure to win concessions gave birth to the localist cause. A hard line from the NPC on the oath-taking case would give their campaign yet more impetus.