The chief secretary, Matthew Cheung, has defended the NPCSC's decision to disqualify four pan-democratic lawmakers, saying Beijing made a "constitutional, lawful and reasonable" move to safeguard national security and "rectify mistakes" in the SAR.

Writing in his blog on Sunday, Cheung described Beijing’s ruling as "highly authoritative with solid legal basis", and accused people of questioning its legality of making groundless and misleading criticism.

He also slammed the 15 other pan-democratic lawmakers who resigned in protest of the disqualifications last week, saying they had made an “unwise and irresponsible decision” to give up on monitoring the government and representing their electorates in the council.

The Bar Association said last week that the NPCSC’s decision to oust Dennis Kwok, Kwok Ka-ki, Alvin Yeung and Kenneth Leung violated the principle of due process that's an inherent part of the rule of law.

The Law Society also said the SAR government is "duty bound" to address public concerns over the issue, such as the legal basis on which the disqualification was effected, as well as the impact of such disqualification including depriving the legal sector of its representation in Legco.

Last Wednesday, the NPCSC resolved that all public officers must support the Basic Law and be loyal to the SAR. It said they would be deemed unfit for office if they supported Hong Kong independence, sought foreign interference, refused to accept China's sovereignty over the territory, or threatened national security.