After the general resignation of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy legislators in November this year, another new scene will emerge in the Hong Kong pro-establishment camp. Hong Kong media are reporting that three “Hong Kong floaters” from China have formally established a new political party in Hong Kong, called the “Bauhinia Party”, with the expectation that its members will gain seats in the Hong Kong legislature at all levels and play a significant role in the election of the Chief Executive. Public opinion analysis shows that the new underground party of the Chinese Communist Party has surfaced at this time, indicating that the original pro-establishment forces are in a precarious position and at risk of being abandoned.
The South China Morning Post reported on December 6 that Li Shan, a director of Credit Suisse Group and a member of China’s National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), together with Huang Qiuzhi, chairman of China Broadcast Holdings, and Chen Jianwen, chairman of Bonjour Holdings, established a new political party in Hong Kong in May of this year, called the “Bauhinia Party”. All three were born in China, and two of them are sea returnees who now use Hong Kong as a money-making base, and are “New Hongkongers.
A search on the official website of the Companies Registry of the Hong Kong SAR Government confirms that this new political party will be established on May 14, 2020. Nearly seven months after its founding, the new political party is now widely publicized by the Hong Kong media.
As early as late last year, Li Shan, who is also the vice chairman of the China Financial Association of Hong Kong, had already written a column in Hong Kong’s Hong Kong Economic Journal entitled “Hong Kong Elections and Political Party Building”. In his article, Li Shan was dissatisfied with the defeat of the pro-establishment camp in the District Council elections, and proposed the establishment of a new political party, specifically mentioning the need to unite “patriots and Hong Kong people, including about two million new immigrants”.
In blaming the pro-establishment camp for the defeat, Li Shan wrote: “In essence, this is the inevitable result of the fact that some pro-establishment parties have been detached from Hong Kong society and the public for a long period of time, and have failed to put forward the ‘aspirations for a better life’ as the party’s goal, failed to put forward a realistic policy platform supported by the majority of the society, and failed to play the political game flexibly. “
He therefore suggested that a new “patriotic and Hong Kong-loving” political party be established as soon as possible to win the support of young students, win seats in the District Council and the Legislative Council, and exert significant influence on the election of the Chief Executive of the SAR.
According to the documents uploaded to the Companies Registry by the Bauhinia Society, the founding members and first directors of the party are Li Shan, Huang Qiu Zhi, and Chen Jian Wen. According to the party’s constitution, the party’s objectives include supporting “one country, two systems and a high degree of autonomy” and improving relations between the central government and the SAR government. The party plans to recruit 250,000 members over the age of 18.
According to Hong Kong current affairs commentator Xiao Ruoyuan on his webcast, the exposure of the new “Bauhinia Party” more than half a year after its founding shows that the CCP no longer trusts the traditional pro-establishment faction in Hong Kong, believing that they can no longer play a pro-regime role. He stated on his website that the FTU had long since faded away, and that the ADL could only represent the existing wealthy people in Hong Kong; the “Bauhinia Party” was intended to represent new immigrants from the mainland as the basis for organizing them to surface and fight for the interests of their own faction.
Another online station, “Raising the Flag, Easy to Get a Way,” holds the same position. It believes that even the most powerful political party in Hong Kong, the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), is seen by the CCP as regionalist and not one of its own. According to the station’s analysis, the Chinese Central Government’s Liaison Office in Hong Kong (LOCPG) is about to weaken the resources currently given to pro-establishment parties, and the first to bear the brunt will be the New People’s Party (NPP), to which Executive Council member Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee belongs.
However, in a telephone interview with Sing Tao Daily, Huang Qiu Zhi, one of the founders of the Bauhinia Party, denied that the party is based on the interests of people from mainland China. He said that the new party is not a “sea returnee” party, but a group of people who love Hong Kong, regardless of background, respect “one country, two systems”, defend freedom, democracy and the rule of law, and hope that Hong Kong will continue to enjoy autonomy and economic prosperity, and promote a bridge between China and the West.
Huang Qiu Zhi stressed to the newspaper, last year’s political turmoil, made them feel at a loss, that as Hong Kong people, they should do their best to solve the problems of Hong Kong, to build their own home, so the idea of creating a party.
Asked whether the new party has communicated with the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Mr. Huang said they have communicated with people from different walks of life and different types of people, stressing that they do not want the new party to be “labeled” and that the most important thing is to get the support of Hong Kong people, “What we are is to be decided by the public after we have made it.
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