Hong Kong’s Democratic Party has taken a key step towards disbanding, in the face of pressure from China and a national security crackdown on the city.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00A familiar route for Emily Lau, traveling to Hong Kong's Stanley prison, a trip the former
00:08Democratic Party chair often makes to see ex-colleagues now behind bars. Many of her
00:14party's members, including former chair Albert Ho, were jailed on national security charges in 2020
00:20after Beijing imposed sweeping laws. And he's been there, he's been locked up for over a thousand
00:26days. So I feel very, very sorry for Albert. And he is a very, very patriotic person.
00:36He knows China inside out. He's been to Delyutai four times. And look at his fate.
00:43The Democratic Party was born in 1994, three years before Britain handed Hong Kong back to Chinese
00:49rule. Their mission, to hold leaders accountable to promises under the one country, two systems
00:54model, for Hong Kong to retain a high degree of autonomy and eventually hold free and fair
01:00elections for its top leader. The party led pro-democracy movements for decades. But in 2019,
01:09China moved to silence dissent in the city amid widespread protests, restricting elections and
01:15imposing media censorship. It escalated in 2020 when Beijing imposed a national security law used to
01:22jail four Democratic Party ex-law makers, making it nearly impossible for the party to survive.
01:28And its members are now voting to disband. Today our members passed this resolution of allowing the
01:36central committee to proceed with the dissolution follow-ups with a vast majority vote. The preliminary
01:44vote saw 90 percent of members present electing to allow its leaders to dissolve the party. But this is
01:49not the final step. In the coming few months, I hope, there will be another general meeting that we
01:59actually will get that motion into debate and vote. As the party decides its next steps,
02:07Lao has not given up on its mission, saying she's open to dialogue with Beijing. The game is not over.
02:13I will carry on, and I hope Hong Kong people will carry on. But of course, before the might of the Communist Party, it's not easy.
02:28Under Chinese rule, many smaller pro-democracy parties and civic groups have closed. And now with the
02:34city's largest opposition party taking key steps towards disbanding, Lao just hopes those imprisoned
02:40pro-democracy leaders know they will not be forgotten. Eason Pan and Rosie Greninger for Taiwan Plus.