'Beijing's expulsions a severe blow to HK's future'

'Beijing's expulsions a severe blow to HK's future'

Timmy Sung reports

Pan-democrats have slammed Beijing's move to expel numerous US journalists from the country, including Hong Kong, saying it is a blatant breach of the One Country, Two Systems principle and a major blow to the city's status as an international finance centre.



Beijing told journalists at the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal overnight that they had to leave the country, and also banned them from working in Hong Kong and Macau.



But the pan-dems said the SAR is supposed to be able to decide its own immigration matters.



Charles Mok from the Professional Commons said he had put forward an urgent question about the expulsions for Wednesday's Legco meeting, but it was refused by president Andrew Leung who said the matter isn’t urgent.



Mok said the decision is a gross interference in the SAR affairs, and he’s worried it will further undermine Hong Kong’s economy.



He pointed out that this comes a day after the city lost its top spot after 25 years as the best place to do business in a global survey carried out by Heritage Foundation.



The lawmaker also noted that the US media outlets had played an important role in reporting the anti-extradition protests and exposing what he called “police brutality” to the world.



The Democratic Party's James To said the move would affect Hong Kong's status as an international financial centre and called on the Carrie Lam administration to advise the central government to cancel the move.



Civic Party lawmaker Alvin Yeung said foreign nationals, apart from diplomats, only need to apply for a working visa from the Immigration Department to work in Hong Kong and they don't need to seek the Foreign Ministry's approval. "So this direct order from the ministry is against One Country, Two Systems," he pointed out.



Yeung said Beijing's move is ill-timed as the US is going to issue a report on Hong Kong's human rights situation soon. He said the expulsions may prompt the US to impose more severe penalties on Beijing, given the ongoing spat between the two countries.