China has told Hong Kong's last major opposition party to disband, members say

By James Pomfret, Jessie Pang and Greg Torode

HONG KONG (Reuters) -Five senior members of Hong Kong's Democratic Party, the city's biggest and last remaining major opposition party, say that Chinese officials or middlemen have warned the party to disband or face serious consequences, including possible arrests.

The Democratic Party, which was founded three years before Hong Kong's return from British to Chinese rule in 1997, has been the flagship opposition party in the city, uniting democratic forces to push Beijing on democratic reforms and to uphold freedoms in the financial hub.

Amid a years-long national security crackdown by China after pro-democracy protests in 2019, the Democratic Party will hold an extraordinary general meeting on April 13 to seek members' views and possibly pave the way for the group's dissolution.

The group's chairman, Lo Kin-hei, has not given a concrete reason for the likely disbandment, but five senior Democratic Party members told Reuters they had been told in meetings with Chinese officials or individuals linked to Beijing in recent months that the party should close.

Fred Li, a veteran Democratic Party member and former lawmaker, said a Chinese official had told him this should be done before this December's legislative elections.

"The meaning is that we should be gone by then," Li told Reuters. "The message was very direct."

Li declined to identify the individual but said the tone was very different from frequent exchanges he has had with Chinese officials over many years.

There was no immediate response to a request for comment from the Hong Kong Liaison Office, China's main representative body in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong government said in a statement that decisions by individual groups "to disband or suspend operation are completely unrelated to the freedom or rights enshrined in Hong Kong law".

Four other senior Democratic Party members also said they had been warned in recent months by middlemen linked to Beijing, some of whom said the party would face "serious consequences" if it did not disband. Three declined to be identified given the sensitivity of the matter.

Yeung Sum, a founding member of the Democratic Party, said Beijing's move in 2021 to overhaul the city's electoral system to allow only people it deemed "patriots" to run for public office had effectively marginalised the party by removing it from mainstream politics.

The party now holds no seats in Hong Kong's legislature.

"We just keep a voice of advocacy for the people of Hong Kong on social and political issues, but still we are under pressure," Yeung, who said he had been approached by a middleman, told Reuters.

Two Asian and two Western diplomats said they were aware of veiled threats to the Democratic Party.

"For a long time it seemed like Beijing could live with the situation of having the party around as a figment of opposition," said one Western envoy.

"It seems they are leaving nothing to chance. The message is it is time to close down once and for all," said the diplomat, who was not authorised to speak publicly.

The envoys said they saw the potential demise of the Democratic Party as further denting Hong Kong's international reputation amid U.S.-China geopolitical tensions.

China's recent opposition to CK Hutchison's ongoing deal to sell its global port network including those in Panama to a U.S. consortium on national security grounds has also raised questions about the city’s autonomy, they said.

The Democratic Party has played a pivotal role in Hong Kong's transition from British to Chinese rule, shaping the financial hub's democratic development and civil society.

Emily Lau, a former Democratic Party chairwoman, said she was saddened by the party's likely dissolution, as she had always believed in engagement rather than confrontation with Beijing, including a 2013 meeting with the deputy head of the Liaison Office, Li Gang.

"What we want is to see a safe, just and ultimately free Hong Kong," she said. Lau declined to comment on whether she had been approached about disbanding.

If the party disbands, it would mark the end of nearly 30 years of opposition party politics in Hong Kong.

At least five party members are currently in jail or held in custody under the national security law.

China says the security law has brought stability to Hong Kong and rejects claims by some countries such as the United States that it has been used as a tool of repression against the democrats.

"Hong Kong's international reputation was built on its openness, its freedoms, and its respect for the rule of law," said David Alton, a life peer of Britain's House of Lords and patron of Hong Kong Watch, a rights advocacy group.

"The disbanding of the Democratic Party is another sign that Hong Kong is now being subjected to the same censorship and repression already familiar in mainland China."

(Reporting by James Pomfret, Jessie Pang and Greg TorodeEditing by Gerry Doyle and Frances Kerry)