Banks in Hong Kong must refuse to serve Hong Kong independence activities

　　Joshua Wong Chi-fung, former convener of the now-dissolved Scholarism who has declared to form a new political party, and another former Scholarism member had tried to open a joint savings account at HSBC but their request was rejected by the bank.　　Wong later had tried to open a personal current account at HSBC but was also rejected.　　Wong therefore accused HSBC of exercising "political censorship".

　　The pair of copper lions at the gate of HSBC have been sitting in the central financial district at Central for nearly 100 years.　　During the law-breaking Occupy Central in 2014, trouble makers had once claimed they wanted to occupy HSBC.　　Now Joshua Wong came to open an account, how could it be possible that HSBC would not close the door on his request?

　　As a matter of fact, Joshua Wong's move to "open an account" is no less than to pose a challenge to the robustness of Hong Kong's banking system.　　As it is well known, the first action planned by the political party to be set up by Wong in the middle of this month is to hold a "referendum on Hong Kong independence", and the joint account he wanted to open is for receiving "donations".　　Unforgetful citizens still remember, as exposed by netizens some time ago, Apple Daily's boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying had received with one hand huge "donations" from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) of the United States, and given money with another hand to Hong Kong's opposition parties in amounts from several hundred thousand to a few million dollars.　　All transactions were done through current accounts at HSBS.　　A burnt child dreads the fire, so after this how could HSBC still dare to do business with Wong's party that campaigns for Hong Kong independence?

　　Furthermore, "Fatty Lai" at least owns the Next Media Group which is somewhat a business operation per se. But Wong's "Hong Kong independence party" has yet to be formally formed by this minute.　　And what can be certain is that either it will try to register as a company or society, given the precedent set by the Companies Registry which has rejected the request for registration by the Hong Kong National Party, Wong's political party's request for registration is surely also to be turned down.

　　In view of this, Joshua Wong could be said "audacious in the extreme" and very insidious by going to open an account at HSBC for receiving donations even before his party is registered, seeing HSBC as a "bank for political black gold" for wantonly making illegal transactions.　　If he were succeeded, unwitting citizens might think he is "licensed" upon seeing his party's banking account at HSBC and thus reduce their suspicion, and then Joshua Wong would get what he wants.

　　Moreover, some former member of Scholarism earlier exposed that Wong attempted to transfer the over one million dollar donations Scholarism received during the "anti-national education" campaign and Occupy Central to the new party, regarding citizens' donations to Scholarism as his own personal wealth, and he had to give up the attempt only after most members strongly opposed it.　　From this case alone, it can be seen that, lavishly flattered by the opposition especially his American boss, Wong has not only become a swollen-headed person with his nose in the air, but his idea of financial management is not only confused but also close to accumulating wealth by unfair means and corruption, as he attempted to turn donations by citizens who care about education and young students into funds to finance his "referendum for 2047" and "referendum for Hong Kong independence".　　Will citizens and parents who have made the donations be willing to be cheated and betrayed?

　　While there may not be any specific law in effect against Hong Kong independence, Article 23 of the Basic Law in black and white prohibits any act of secession and prohibits accepting foreign political donations.　　How would banks in Hong Kong dare to take a risk and act rashly?　　It can be certain that any party campaigning for Hong Kong independence will be driven from pillar to post when it goes to banks in Hong Kong. 06 April 2016