Hong Kong’s oldest pro-democracy party yesterday formally decided to disband, its leader announced, following its annual meeting.
The Democratic Party was founded in 1994, near the end of British colonial rule, when Hong Kong’s leading liberal groups merged.
“We have officially announced the disbandment and dismissal,” Democratic Party chairman Lo Kin-hei (羅健熙) told a news conference. “This process has been completed at the time of the special committee meeting just now.”
Photo: Reuters
“As a group, I believe we can conclude that the Democratic Party’s operation will end today,” said Lo, chair of the party that was once the territory’s stalwart opposition force.
“We are deeply grateful to all the citizens who have walked with the Democratic Party for the past 30 years,” he added.
The party’s main focus had been determining how the territory would eventually elect its own leader and lawmakers through universal suffrage.
“I don’t understand why the Democratic Party would end up like this,” former party chairwoman Emily Lau (劉慧卿) said to reporters when leaving the meeting.
Beijing tightened its grip on the finance hub after massive and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in 2019.
After the imposition of the national security law, the territory’s political opposition dwindled, with many democracy campaigners jailed or left the territory.
The Chien Feng IV (勁蜂, Mighty Hornet) loitering munition is on track to enter flight tests next month in connection with potential adoption by Taiwanese and US armed forces, a government source said yesterday. The kamikaze drone, which boasts a range of 1,000km, debuted at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in September, the official said on condition of anonymity. The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and US-based Kratos Defense jointly developed the platform by leveraging the engine and airframe of the latter’s MQM-178 Firejet target drone, they said. The uncrewed aerial vehicle is designed to utilize an artificial intelligence computer
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday decided to shelve proposed legislation that would give elected officials full control over their stipends, saying it would wait for a consensus to be reached before acting. KMT Legislator Chen Yu-jen (陳玉珍) last week proposed amendments to the Organic Act of the Legislative Yuan (立法院組織法) and the Regulations on Allowances for Elected Representatives and Subsidies for Village Chiefs (地方民意代表費用支給及村里長事務補助費補助條例), which would give legislators and councilors the freedom to use their allowances without providing invoices for reimbursement. The proposal immediately drew criticism, amid reports that several legislators face possible charges of embezzling fees intended to pay
REQUIREMENTS: The US defense secretary must submit a Taiwan security assistance road map and an appraisal of Washington’s ability to respond to Indo-Pacific conflict The US Congress has released a new draft of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes up to US$1 billion in funding for Taiwan-related security cooperation next year. The version published on Sunday by US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson removed earlier language that would have invited Taiwan to participate in the US-led Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC). A statement on Johnson’s Web page said the NDAA “enhances U.S. defense initiatives in the Indo-Pacific to bolster Taiwan’s defense and support Indo-Pacific allies.” The bill would require the US secretary of defense to “enable fielding of uncrewed and anti-uncrewed systems capabilities”
Renewed border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia showed no signs of abating yesterday, leaving hundreds of thousands of displaced people in both countries living in strained conditions as more flooded into temporary shelters. Reporters on the Thai side of the border heard sounds of outgoing, indirect fire yesterday. About 400,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas in Thailand and about 700 schools closed while fighting was ongoing in four border provinces, said Thai Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, a spokesman for the military. Cambodia evacuated more than 127,000 villagers and closed hundreds of schools, the Thai Ministry of Defense said. Thailand’s military announced that
RSS