【Global Times Special Correspondent in Hong Kong Ye Lan】Editor's note: The Democratic Party, which has been the largest pan-democratic party in Hong Kong for nearly 28 years since its founding, is currently in financial crisis, and its working capital can only last until the end of the year.

The members of the party's Legislative Council have been "cleared", there are only 7 district councillors, and many leaders are serving sentences in prison. Hong Kong media bluntly stated that the Democratic Party is not far from disbanding, and it is only surviving.

After the implementation of the National Security Law in Hong Kong at the end of June 2020 to bring things right, the former anti-China chaotic organization was hit hard, and Hong Kong society began to gradually return to normal.

Democrats dying

  Hong Kong's "Oriental Daily" said on the 13th that the Democratic Party had earlier sold a property in Lai Chi Kok to cash out, and at the same time decided to cut its workforce by half and sell party cars.

On the 12th, he sold souvenirs in the online store again. The goal was to raise HK$3 million to cover daily expenses, but it was obviously difficult to achieve.

  One of the major reasons for the Democratic Party's financial crisis is that it participated in the pan-democratic general resignation of the Legislative Council in 2020, and then did not participate in the general election of the Legislative Council held at the end of last year, so it "cleared" its seats in the Legislative Council.

As for district councils, the SAR government required all district councillors to take an oath last year, but many Democrats resigned or were deprived of their seats. From the original 91 seats to now, there are only 7 seats left, and the salaries paid by councillors to the Democratic Party have been greatly reduced.

In addition, due to the impact of the epidemic last year and other factors, the party gala dinner, which the Democratic Party has always depended on for a living, could not be held.

  Another major reason is that the leaders of the Democratic Party, including former chairman Hu Zhiwei, former vice chairman Lin Zhuoting, and member Yin Zhaojian, participated in the illegal "35+ primary election" of the pan-democrats. They were arrested on suspicion of violating the National Security Law and charged with conspiracy to subvert state power.

The former chairman of the party, He Junren, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his involvement in the illegal assembly case in October 2019; former chairman Yang Sen was sentenced to 14 months.

The Democratic Party has spent more than 11 million Hong Kong dollars for the lawsuit.

  The Democratic Party used to be the largest pan-democratic political party in Hong Kong. Democrats now.

Initially, the party did not oppose the return of Hong Kong, and only demanded "democracy" and "Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong".

During the political reform period in 2010, the Democratic Party did not participate in the "General Speech of the Five Districts", and even went to the Liaison Office of the Central Committee to communicate and established the image of a moderate opposition.

However, during the illegal "Occupy Central" in 2014, dozens of party members of the Democratic Party participated and gradually sided with the radical opposition.

In the 2019 "Revision Storm", Hu Zhiwei, the then chairman of the Democratic Party, insulted the Chief Executive Carrie Lam with vulgar words, and then led a violent attack at the meeting of the Bill Revision Committee. The party completely abandoned the moderate line.

  The Democratic Party is also divided. In 2018, the biggest wave of quitting the party broke out since the founding of the party. 59 members of the New Territories East party branch announced their collective withdrawal from the party.

During the 2019 "revision turmoil", Chen Zhuangqin, a founding member of the Democratic Party, published an article in the media criticizing the rioters' assault on the Legislative Council.

The Democratic Party immediately expelled his party membership on the grounds that the content damaged the party's reputation, and Chen Zhuangqin finally chose to voluntarily quit the party.

Liang Zhenying, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, once said that the internal contradictions of the Democratic Party are too deep, "the only way to dismantle the bomb is to split the Democratic Party, and people who sell soy milk fritters and coffee croissants go all out... Voter pain".

  Chen Weiqiang, a scholar at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, pointed out that the Democratic Party has little effect on social development, and has not sent anyone to participate in the Legislative Council election, and has no political function at all.

Even donating money means little to the Democrats, he said, and he could get into trouble at any time.

The "Oriental Daily" commented on the 13th that the Democratic Party openly colluded with Lai zhiying during the "turbulent revision of the bill", and even asked external forces to sanction the mainland and Hong Kong, which was extremely arrogant.

According to the analysis, the Democratic Party has misjudged the situation, abandoned the moderate and rational line, and left itself without a place to stand. If it wants to continue to survive, it must revise its political platform and wholeheartedly support the fundamental principle of "patriots ruling Hong Kong" under the Constitution and the Basic Law. Port cut.

"Hong Kong Independence" organizations disbanded one after another

  After the National Security Law of Hong Kong came into effect on June 30, 2020, it immediately showed great power.

The "Hong Kong Independence" organization "Hong Kong Zhongzhi", which had previously advocated collusion with foreign forces, its secretary general Huang Zhifeng, members Luo Guancong and Zhou Ting and others announced their withdrawal. "Zhongzhi" subsequently announced the dissolution and cessation of all conference affairs.

The "Hong Kong National Front", with Liang Songheng as the spokesman, and the "Student Movement Source" that advocated "Hong Kong independence" in the academic circles also announced their dissolution.

  Since last year, many large opposition organizations have been unable to operate.

In June 2021, the 11-year-old Hong Kong "New Alliance for Democracy" announced its dissolution.

Fan Guowei, an important member of the organization, was ruled "inappropriately elected" due to an election petition in 2019, losing the organization's only Legislative Council seat.

At the beginning of 2021, Fan Guowei and another member Tan Kaibang were detained for the illegal "primary election case", and they announced their withdrawal from the party in prison.

  In August of the same year, the "FDC" issued a statement saying that the participating member groups unanimously resolved to dissolve with immediate effect.

The organization's full name is "Civil Human Rights Front". It was established in September 2002, and in 2003, it undermined the legislation of Article 23 of the Basic Law.

During the 2019 "Revision Storm", the "FDC" organized a series of illegal marches and rallies. Among them, the June 12 rally held on Lung Hui Road in Admiralty was surrounded by a large number of rioters, which later turned into clashes between the police and the people.

In March 2021, Singapore's "Lianhe Zaobao" quoted news that the "FDC" was being investigated or banned for accepting foreign funding in violation of the Hong Kong National Security Law. After that, many members and groups withdrew one after another, including the Democratic Party, Citizens Party, The FDC and others announced that they would stop sending representatives to participate in the meetings and work of the FDC. The FDC had more than 60 groups at its peak to only single digits.

The disbandment of the "FDC" can be described as a welcome relief.

The Liberal Party hopes that the police will collect evidence as soon as possible, bring the relevant persons to justice, and restore peace in Hong Kong.

  Then in September 2021, the radical "Hong Kong independence" organization "Citizens" announced its dissolution.

In the same month, the "Stake", which has been fighting against China for 32 years, held a special general meeting, and the resolution of dissolution was approved by a large majority.

The full name of the "Stake" is "Hong Kong Citizens Supporting Patriotic Democracy Movement". It even publicly pushed the US to sanction Hong Kong.

In early September 2021, the "stake" chairman Li Zhuoren, vice-chairmen He Junren and Zou Xingtong were charged with inciting subversion of state power.

He Junren also issued a statement announcing his resignation from all positions in the "Stake", "Chinese Democracy Academy" and "Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group", and withdrew from relevant organizations.

  Also in September 2021, the Hong Kong "Association of Education Professionals" ("Association of Education Professionals"), which has been established for 48 years and has a membership of 95,000, officially came to an end.

Founded by Szeto Wah in 1973, the organization has been the largest trade union in Hong Kong for many years.

In recent years, there have been many social unrest incidents, and the "Educational Association" has been highly involved. For example, in 2012, it participated in the "Opposition to National Education Science and Technology Alliance", forcing the SAR government to withdraw the moral education and national education subjects; Indefinite strikes by the United", urging teachers in Hong Kong to "strike classes and teach".

In 2019, after the "revision storm" broke out, teachers were encouraged to "strike classes but not teach".

In July 2021, the Hong Kong Education Bureau announced that it would completely terminate its working relationship with the Education Association and no longer regard it as a professional education organization.

  However, the dissolution does not relieve the above-mentioned organizations of their legal responsibilities in their anti-China activities in Hong Kong.

In October 2021, the Hong Kong police conducted a search on the FDC.

Also liquidated were the "stakes."

The Chief Executive in Council decided to order the Registrar of Companies to remove the "stake" from the company register in accordance with the relevant regulations, in order to reduce the risk of endangering national security.

Some organizations that have not been disbanded, such as the "Social People's Association", are only struggling to support, and obviously there is no way out.

The "workers' union" that is chaotic in Hong Kong is being investigated by the National Security Division of the Hong Kong Police, including whether it violates the Hong Kong National Security Law and money laundering.

  Cai Yi, president of the Federation of All Circles on Hong Kong Island, believes that the dissolution of the "FDC" and other chaotic organizations in Hong Kong shows that Hong Kong's laws have a deterrent effect, and it also shows that "Skynet has been restored and neglected."

Di Zhiyuan, former vice-chairman and founding member of the Hong Kong Democratic Party and chairman of Hong Kong's "New Thinking", participated in the Legislative Council general election in December last year.

He said that he was able to get enough election committee nomination votes because of the help of a number of pro-establishment figures, and he believed that this fully demonstrated the openness of the central government's desire to see a "multiple Legislative Council".

He also said that the pan-democrats themselves should realize that "confrontation" is touching the red line of the central government. In the future, they should communicate well with the central government and the SAR government, and stop violent confrontation as in the past few years.

  Hong Kong's Hong Kong Economic Journal stated that there is no problem in promoting democracy in Hong Kong by promoting civil society, but illegal black violence under the guise of "civil disobedience" and "illegal justice" is an alienation of the concept of civil society and will inevitably be prosecuted by law .

The good news is that under the shock and deterrence of Hong Kong's National Security Law, anti-China organizations or groups that disrupt Hong Kong have been disbanded, which is of great benefit to the establishment of a healthy civil society.

The status quo of the leader of the chaos in Hong Kong

  Jimmy Lai: Sentenced for 4 cases of illegal assembly, with a total sentence of 20 months.

In May 2021, its assets were frozen and its market value exceeded HK$300 million.

He was also charged with colluding with foreign countries or foreign forces to endanger national security and other crimes and is on remand.

  Huang Zhifeng: He was sentenced to a total of 27.5 months in prison for the 3 cases involved. After the total sentence was reduced to 23.5 months, it was completed in March this year and was transferred to Stanley Prison for remand, waiting for the illegal "35+ primary election case" by the pan-democrats trial.