The founding of the new Bauhinia Party half a year ago was revealed by the South China Morning Post last Sunday. A few days later, zijing.org, a website run by the Liaison Office, published an interview featuring the party’s founder. The name of the party alone indicates the party was established on the orders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with a view to replacing the traditional royalist parties in Hong Kong. However, when asked to comment on the matter, leaders of both the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) and the Liberal Party said the new party would pose no threat to them.

If the Bauhinia Party is really the brainchild of the CCP, can the royalist parties that survive on the backing of the CCP be relaxed about its emergence? As the sole political party of China, the CCP has never been keen on forming political parties in Hong Kong. This is because under a democratically elected system, a ruling party must have the support of the majority of voters, and so even if the ruling party in Hong Kong is backed by the CCP, it could not act solely on the CCP’s orders but has to listen to people. This is why the CCP does not want Hong Kong to have a democratic political system and refuses to have any Hong Kong political party, not even the DAB, be the ruling party.

In the 1980s, the future of Hong Kong, which became a focus of attention, and the issue concerning the development of a representative government, prompted the establishment of many local political and pressure groups. Besides, the Sino-British Joint Declaration stated that after the handover, the chief executive and the Hong Kong legislature would be elected by Hong Kongers. Therefore, the CCP was aware that since it promised that Hong Kong people could govern Hong Kong, it could not prevent the establishment and growth of local political parties. That was why it chose to fuel the flames behind the scenes. All along, the British colonial government was aware of the Xinhua News Agency’s underground work in Hong Kong but did not say anything.

In 1987, Xu Jiatun, then director of the Hong Kong branch of the Xinhua News Agency, met me and Szeto Wah. During the meeting, he suggested that we established two different democratic parties. He noted that Szeto, also known as Uncle Wah, and I had different backgrounds - I was from the upper-middle class and could form a party with then lawmakers Allen Lee and Stephen Cheong Kam-chuen, representing the business and professional sectors, whereas Uncle Wah should join forces with the labor sector to set up a party representing the grassroots sector. He said to Uncle Wah: “Whatever money and whoever you want, they are there.”

Xu’s wishful thinking did not come true. With a group of like-minded democrats, Uncle Wah and I founded the United Democrats of Hong Kong, as we knew that if we got help from Xinhua, we would always be under the CCP’s control. Our political ideal was to bring in real democracy in Hong Kong. What we needed was support from voters, not the CCP.

Meanwhile, various pro-establishment parties were founded. For the business sector, there was the Co-operative Resources Centre, the former self of the Liberal Party. There were also the DAB and the first version of the Federation of Trade Unions. These groups covered different classes in Hong Kong. Shortly before and after the handover, the CCP provided the royalist parties with a lot of money and human resources. Its promise to Uncle Wah that “whatever money and whoever you want, they are there” was fulfilled, although the beneficiaries were a different group of people. The CCP had expected the pro-establishment parties to secure landslide victories in elections, but the parties failed to deliver. Over the years, the CCP had been manipulating its puppets from behind the scenes. But in recent years, it moved to the front stage, making it clear that it wants to implement “overall jurisdiction” in Hong Kong and taking control of different quarters in the Hong Kong SAR. On the political front, the pro-democracy camp is naturally the first to bear the brunt. But do the royalists from different factions really think they will never be ditched by the CCP?

Among the three magic weapons of the CCP, the most important one is about the united front. The CCP would first identify the “biggest contradiction”, or the key enemy. Then it will join forces with the secondary enemy to strike the key enemy, labeling and isolating it before eliminating it. Then it will take gradual steps to defeat other “contradictions” so that it will eventually become the only one in charge.

In Hong Kong, when the biggest contradiction that is the pro-democracy camp has been finished off, the CCP will point the gun at the next biggest contradiction and then the next and so forth. Even the most authentic royalists will eventually be deemed the biggest contradiction. The united front logic is that no one can be sure they can escape from the fate of being cast as the biggest contradiction. Once the CCP secures overall jurisdiction in Hong Kong, will the royalists who have the upper hand at the moment get to share power or will it be replaced by the Bauhinia Party, or another party that is even more pro-Beijing? Good luck to all royalists!

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

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