Hong Kong\u2019s oldest and largest pro-democracy political party is moving to disband as Beijing\u2019s sweeping crackdown on the city leaves even moderate opposition groups with no room to operate. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe message was that the party has to be disbanded or there will be consequences,\u201d said one of them, Yeung Sum, a former Democratic Party chairman. <\/p>\n
Fred Li, a former lawmaker, said a Chinese official told him that the party should not remain until the end of this year, when an election will be held. <\/p>\n
Founded by liberal lawyers and academics three years before the former British colony\u2019s 1997 handover to China, the Democratic Party had campaigned for universal suffrage and on matters from labor rights to conservation during a period when such issues were openly discussed in the city. <\/p>\n
Widely seen as moderates willing to work with Beijing, Democratic Party leaders had spearheaded a significant voting bloc in the city\u2019s legislature and were regularly afforded space to critique local government policy, until mass pro-democracy protests in 2019 ushered in a new and more restrictive political era. <\/p>\n
Beijing\u2019s crackdown in the years since, including the prosecution and jailing of pro-democracy leaders, has left the once-influential party rudderless as it contends with sweeping national security legislation and \u201cpatriots only\u201d electoral reforms enacted in 2021 that make it nearly impossible for opposition candidates to stand for the city\u2019s legislature. <\/p>\n
Democratic Party chairman Lo Kin-hei told a news conference last Sunday that 90% of about 110 party members had voted to delegate power to a committee to start the dissolution process, adding he hoped a final vote would take place in the coming months. <\/p>\n
\u201cI hope Hong Kong\u2019s political parties\u2026 will continue to work for the people,\u201d Lo said. \u201cWe have always hoped to serve the Hong Kong people, and to do things that are good for society.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Democrats\u2019 move to disband demonstrates Beijing\u2019s unwillingness to allow even the mildest of dissenting voices to be heard in Hong Kong, say analysts. <\/p>\n
John Burns, emeritus professor at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), said the party had \u201csymbolized the promise of some kind of democratic development in Hong Kong, leading to universal suffrage as promised in the Basic Law,\u201d referring to the city\u2019s mini-constitution. <\/p>\n
\u201cA dissolution of the party reflects official Hong Kong\u2019s turn away from popular participation, locally accountable government, and increased transparency toward more authoritarian rule,\u201d Burns said. <\/p>\n
Eric Lai, a research fellow at the Georgetown Center for Asian Law, said the Democrats\u2019 move \u201cshows there are no more feasible ways for groups to exist as an opposition party.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s self-conflicting for the government to suggest that nothing has changed,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Criticism of the government remains permitted in Hong Kong, \u201chowever strong, vigorous or critical\u201d it may be, so long as it is \u201cbased on facts,\u201d the spokesperson said. The Hong Kong government would \u201ccontinue to resolutely discharge the duty of safeguarding national security,\u201d they added. <\/p>\n
The Democrats had enjoyed relative political freedom following Hong Kong\u2019s return to Chinese rule, even holding more seats than any other party in the mostly pro-Beijing legislature until 2004. <\/p>\n
The party\u2019s leaders were often the figureheads of major demonstrations, including an annual June 4 vigil to commemorate the Tiananmen Square massacre and a well-attended pro-democracy march held every July. (Neither event would be permitted on the Chinese mainland, and both are now effectively banned in Hong Kong). <\/p>\n
But support for the Democrats plunged in 2010 after its leaders negotiated directly for universal suffrage with officials from Beijing\u2019s liaison office in Hong Kong \u2013 a move seen as a betrayal by other pro-democracy groups. <\/p>\n
The party was then pushed further to the sidelines by the emergence of a new generation of pro-democracy leaders and student activists during months-long protests for universal suffrage in 2014. <\/p>\n
However, when anti-government demonstrators returned to Hong Kong\u2019s streets en masse in 2019, the Democrats\u2019 popularity resurged as many of its leaders stood on the front lines of the massive \u2013 and sometimes violent \u2013 protests that rocked the financial hub. <\/p>\n
Later that year, the Democratic Party was the biggest winner in local district council elections. But its participation in the protests also drew the ire of Hong Kong authorities and Beijing, paving the way for its demise. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe party made mistakes when it failed to draw a clear line between itself and radical separatists calling for Hong Kong\u2019s independence from 2014-2020,\u201d said Burns, from HKU. \u201cAuthorities have punished the party, jailing and chasing out Democratic Party leaders.\u201d <\/p>\n
Over the past five years, the space for the Democrats to maneuver has been increasingly squeezed by Chinese authorities. <\/p>\n
In 2020, Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong, introducing the maximum sentence of life imprisonment for four main crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. <\/p>\n
A year later, the Chinese government rewrote Hong Kong\u2019s electoral rules to require candidates to seek nomination from pro-Beijing groups, essentially excluding the opposition from elections. A legislature filled with Beijing loyalists last year unanimously passed a law expanding the scope of national security offenses. <\/p>\n
Beijing and the Hong Kong government argued that the electoral changes had enhanced democracy and have repeatedly defended the security laws as restoring order and returning prosperity to the city. But critics say they have curtailed freedoms and had a \u201cchilling effect\u201d on civil society, including independent institutions and the media. <\/p>\n
Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at SOAS University of London, said political and social protests seen as challenging state security are \u201cbecoming increasingly if not well-nigh impossible.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cMany other elements of civil rights, including that of speech and organizing political parties have also been severely curtailed,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
Last year, five former Democratic Party lawmakers were among 45 opposition figures sentenced to prison terms of up to 10 years after they were found guilty of subversion for taking part in an election primary in 2020. <\/p>\n
National security police have also placed HK$1 million ($129,000) bounties on pro-democracy activists who fled overseas, including an Australia-based former Democratic Party lawmaker accused of secession, subversion and collusion with a foreign country. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the trial of media tycoon and outspoken democracy supporter Jimmy Lai is ongoing, more than four years after he was detained on charges of colluding with foreign forces, which he denies. <\/p>\n
The Democratic Party\u2019s announcement last weekend follows the dissolution of almost 100 civil and pro-democracy organizations in Hong Kong in the wake of Beijing\u2019s crackdown. <\/p>\n
The party had tried to survive as a civic group in recent years but struggled to raise funds as multiple private venues canceled their events, often at the last minute. <\/p>\n
Former Democratic Party lawmaker Emily Lau said the party\u2019s move to disband was \u201cvery sad.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what they are thinking in Beijing. We have demonstrated, not just words, but by action, that we are reasonable. We are willing to talk, to negotiate, to compromise, reach a deal and go forward.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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