Five senior members of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party, the territory’s biggest and last remaining major opposition party, said that Chinese officials or intermediaries have warned the party to disband or face serious consequences, including possible arrests.
The Democratic Party, which was founded in 1994 in the years before Hong Kong’s historic return from British to Chinese rule, has over the past few decades been the flagship opposition party that has united the territory’s democratic forces to push Beijing on democratic reforms and to uphold its freedoms.
Amid a years-long national security crackdown by China after pro-democracy protests in 2019, the Democratic Party is to hold an extraordinary general meeting tomorrow to seek members’ views and possibly pave the way for the group’s dissolution.
Photo: Reuters
Party Chairman Lo Kin-hei (羅健熙) has not given a concrete reason for the likely disbandment, but five senior Democratic Party members told Reuters they had been told in meetings with Chinese officials or people linked to Beijing in recent months that the party should close.
Fred Li (李華明), a veteran party member and former lawmaker, said a Chinese official had told him this should be done before the legislative elections in December.
“The meaning is that we should be gone by then,” Li said. “The message was very direct.”
Photo: Reuters
Li declined to identify the person, but said the tone was very different from frequent exchanges he has had with Chinese officials over many years.
There were no immediate responses to requests for comment from the Hong Kong Liaison Office, China’s main representative body in Hong Kong, or from the Hong Kong government.
Four other senior Democratic Party members also said they had been warned in recent months by middlemen linked to Beijing, some of whom said the party would face “serious consequences” if it did not disband. Three declined to be identified given the sensitivity of the matter.
Yeung Sum (楊森), one of the party’s founding members, said Beijing’s move in 2021 to overhaul Hong Kong’s electoral system to only allow “patriots” to run for public office had effectively marginalized the party by removing it from mainstream politics.
The party now holds no seats in Hong Kong’s legislature.
“We just keep a voice of advocacy for the people of Hong Kong on social and political issues, but still we are under pressure,” said Yeung, who was also approached by a middleman.
Two Asian and two Western diplomats say they are aware of the veiled threats to the Democratic Party.
“For a long time it seemed like Beijing could live with the situation of having the party around as a figment of opposition,” said one Western envoy.
“It seems they are leaving nothing to chance. The message is it is time to close down once and for all,” said the diplomat, who was not authorized to speak publicly.
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