The sudden high-profile emergence of the Bauhinia Party has fueled speculation that the party is a new force helping the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to implement its “overall jurisdiction” over Hong Kong. But some people believe the importance of the Bauhinia Party is being overhyped, given that it has been established for half a year and yet has remained rather quiet. There has been no big ceremony marking its founding and no leaders from the Liaison Office or Beijing have openly congratulated its establishment. It has not carried out any activity and does not have a headquarters, secretariat or local branch. Apparently, it is just a political party that exists in name only and was not established on the order of the central government.

But then, the party’s name suggests it is definitely related to the Liaison Office. Many people, including the royalists, are skeptical about its plan to recruit 250,000 members. However, what if those joining the party are all underground members of the CCP who have been lurking in Hong Kong? In that case, it is not an exaggeration for the party to boast 250,000 members, and that will explain why the party has been keeping a low profile.

As it is commonly known, underground members of the CCP are ubiquitous in Hong Kong. They have infiltrated all quarters of Hong Kong society, including political parties from different factions, big companies, primary and secondary schools and universities, religious organizations and professional associations. It is estimated that there are more than 400,000 underground CCP members in Hong Kong. Of course, the Bauhinia Party will not expose all underground members. What it does is to serve as a known platform for these underground members to get into politics smoothly. In other words, the party already has its own members, and the Liaison Office and Xinhua News Agency (the former self of the Liaison Office) which coordinates the work of underground members in Hong Kong, are the headquarters of the Bauhinia Party. As the Liaison Office already has a large number of iron votes and “ghost voters”, the party will not have to canvass votes like other political parties.

The CCP has wanted to apply Singapore’s governance model to Hong Kong. Basically, it is a model that claims to be democratic but actually has nothing to do with democracy. In Singapore, there are democratic elections, but the People’s Action Party (PAP), which has long been the ruling party, has established an unfair election system that offers no place for the opposition and enables the PAP to control election results. In recent years, the CCP has disqualified lawmakers in order to do what Singapore does. Candidates nominated to run for elections in Hong Kong, those who have won in elections and the four pro-democracy legislators who had been in office for several years and were recently disqualified are all the CCP’s enemies who have to be eliminated. They have all been disqualified for no legitimate reason. Without much difficulty, the CCP has turned the Legislative Council into a mini parliament with only one voice. No more voices of opposition can be heard now.

But since Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew passed away, the country’s patronizing, coercive style of leadership has been on wobbly ground. The top brass of the Singaporean government formed by the PAP consists of outstanding, competent ruling elites. In the parliamentary election held in July this year, the PAP won 83 seats under the unfair election system, maintaining its majority. Yet the opposition managed to set a record by winning 10 seats. In the past, no opposition party in Singapore could win more than six seats. So even Singaporean people, who have always been an obedient lot, have decided to stand up for their rights!

Now that the Singapore model has started to prove not workable in Singapore, what makes the CCP think the model can work in Hong Kong? Besides, Hong Kong has a distinctly different political context than Singapore. Back in the colonial era, the city had enjoyed the fruits of democracy, including the rule of law, human rights and freedoms. Hong Kong people are naturally averse to political repression. Yet the CCP has deliberately stirred up controversies over “Hong Kong independence”. Last year, it took the opportunity arising from the extradition bill disputes to adopt totalitarian and coercive measures and create chaos in Hong Kong. Then it formulated a national security law for Hong Kong on the pretext of curbing violence, so that the CCP can implement its overall jurisdiction over the city. It hopes to make Hong Kongers embrace Chinese rule through its controls over the SAR’s administrative, legislative, and judicial organs.

In so doing, the CCP thinks it can claim to fulfil its promise on the “one country, two systems” arrangement for Hong Kong and make the rest of the world think that Hong Kong has the rule of law and is a free, prosperous place as before. It may be able to fool itself but it cannot deceive others. The international community can see what is happening and will not accept the CCP’s narrative. If Hong Kong is treated as an ordinary Chinese city, it will do no good to China’s national development. It is only by returning to Deng Xiaoping’s “one country, two systems” blueprint and bringing Hong Kong back to the right track can Hong Kong people’s hearts be won over.

(Martin Lee is a barrister and founder of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party.)

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