Despite pressure from China over national security concerns, Hong Kong’s final major opposition party took a big step towards dissolving itself on Sunday after plans to do so were agreed at a closed meeting.
Five Democratic Party leaders previously told Reuters that they had received warnings from Chinese officials or middlemen in recent months to dissolve or risk severe repercussions, including jail.
The party, which was established three years before to Hong Kong’s 1997 return to Chinese control from Britain, has emerged as the leading opposition in the Asian financial centre, bringing together democratic forces to defend freedoms and put pressure on Beijing for democratic changes.
At a meeting on Sunday, 90 percent of the 110 members voted for a three-person committee to start draughting dissolution plans, including settling accounting and legal matters, party chairman Lo Kin-hei told reporters.
Nearly 30 years of opposition party politics in Hong Kong would come to an end if the party disbanded. China implemented a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 in reaction to large-scale pro-democracy demonstrations the year before, which has resulted in at least five Democratic Party members being imprisoned or jailed.
