The Beijing-decreed unseating of four Hong Kong opposition lawmakers earlier this week marked a big step in China’s drive to tame the territory’s pan-democratic camp and turn a legislature usually hijacked by partisan filibustering into a more pliant one, say observers. 

A resolution passed on Wednesday by the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee in Beijing disqualified four prominent opposition activists serving as legislators: the Civil Party’s Alvin Yeung, Dennis Kwok and Kwok Ka-ki as well as the Professional Commons’ Kenneth Leung.