Hong Kong District Councilor Expelled After Failing to Take Loyalty Oath

Authorities in Hong Kong have expelled an elected pro-democracy member of the city's District Council for failing to turn up to pledge allegiance to the government and the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), while calling into question the oaths of seven other opposition councilors. Peter Choi, who was elected in Hong Kong Island's Eastern district, failed to turn up alongside 24 colleagues for a mass oath-taking ceremony on Friday. He was expalled from the council with immediate effect.

Officials also asked seven other councilors -- Clarisse Yeung and Leung Pak-kin from Wanchai, Wei Siu-lik, So Yat-hang, Chan Wing-tai and Lai Tsz-yan from Eastern, and Michael Pang from Southern district -- for further information after finding their oaths "questionable."

"As the oath administrator had doubts on the validity of the oaths taken by seven district council members, they were required to provide additional information for the oath administrator to decide the validity of their oaths," state news agency Xinhua reported.

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