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In Hong Kong, a New Party Calls for Stability (and Raises Suspicions)

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Democracy advocates have called the Bauhinia Party a “Trojan horse” for the Chinese government. But Beijing’s local allies are wary of it, too.
They are businessmen, born in mainland China, who serve on top advisory committees to Beijing and profess patriotism for the motherland. One recently traveled to an obscure village in southeastern China to study Xi Jinping’s doctrine for guiding the country to greatness. Now, they are seeking to bring that ardor to Hong Kong, as the founders of the city’s newest political party. They are calling for social stability to unify a deeply fractured society and mend a damaged economy. “You cannot have a protest every day,” said Li Shan, the founder and chairman of the party. The arrival of the Bauhinia Party has fueled furious speculation about the future of Hong Kong’s once-vibrant, at times unruly, political scene. The party, led by business executives who moved to Hong Kong from the mainland, is entering the fray amid forceful moves by the Chinese government to quash dissent, after huge pro-democracy protests in 2019 challenged its rule. Already, the authorities have ejected opposition lawmakers from the Hong Kong legislature and disqualified and arrested would-be candidates. Many in the pro-democracy camp see the new party as yet another sign that Hong Kong — a former British colony that was promised 50 years of semi-autonomy when it returned to China in 1997 — is becoming just another mainland city. But the news was equally, if not more, unsettling for Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing bloc, the coalition of local business tycoons, established politicians and trade unions that has long been allowed to govern as the central government’s proxy. Many have wondered if the emergence of the new party is Beijing’s signal that it has less use for those traditional power brokers and may replace them with figures deemed more effective or trustworthy. While the pro-Beijing camp has always professed loyalty to the central government, its members have taken care to emphasize the differences between their city and the mainland. The Bauhinia Party appears to be offering itself to Beijing as a new model for allies, ones who are more overt about their ties to the central government and their admiration for its top-down approach. Mr. Li is a delegate to the national Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body to Beijing, and speaks hardly any Cantonese, Hong Kong’s local language. Another co-founder, Chen Jianwen, is a delegate to a regional arm of the advisory body and leads an association for alumni of a training academy for Communist Party officials. Central planks of the party’s platform include combating discrimination against mainland transplants to Hong Kong and fostering a love of Chinese language and culture.

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