Hong Kong's chief executive on Wednesday rightly rebutted the claim that the central government had encroached upon local affairs after the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office and Hong Kong Liaison Office issued statements criticizing opposition lawmakers for employing "malicious filibustering" and "despicable tactics" to paralyze the special administrative region's Legislative Council for personal political gain.

The Hong Kong Bar Association claimed that the statements－which singled out Civic Party lawmaker Dennis Kwok, who has presided over the House Committee meeting since last October, for disrupting legislative proceedings and committing misconduct in office by stalling the election of the chairperson of the House Committee, and delaying reviews of bills concerning public livelihood－could constitute a breach of the "one country, two systems" principle.

But as Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, the special administrative region's chief executive, pointed out, the central government has a legitimate right to express concern over "unacceptable" legislative disruptions as it has not surrendered its power and authority over Hong Kong affairs by granting the region a high degree of autonomy.

With the Legislative Council almost malfunctioning because the House Committee has not been able to elect a chairman for over six months, the central government has the institutional authority to point out the problem.

With the special administrative region still battling the novel coronavirus pandemic－there has been a rebound in confirmed infections lately－and the economy yet to recover from the battering it took as a result of the rioting that plagued Hong Kong in the second half of last year, protecting people's health and livelihoods should be the priority for the LegCo members.

At this time of global crisis, they should be working with the executive branch of the Hong Kong government to help the needy in the region to the best of their abilities. Instead, opposition lawmakers have, as the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office said, resorted to "scorched-earth politics" to pursue their demands, once again demonstrating their inclination to go back on the pledge of allegiance they all took upon assuming office.

The Legislative Council has very clear functions under the Basic Law, and many of these functions have not been discharged since October last year because of the way that Kwok has handled the election of the House Committee chairman. As Lam said, "This is really unacceptable."

As such, the Department of Justice should investigate whether opposition lawmakers such as Kwok by delaying the legislative procedures for multiple bills related to people's livelihoods and the fight against COVID-19 outbreak are culpable for the offense of misconduct in public office.