Hong Kong pro-democracy bloc nears end with last party disbanding
A man walks past a display in Hong Kong publicizing the fifth anniversary of the territory's national security law, on June 27, 2025. (Kyodo)
HONG KONG (Kyodo) -- Hong Kong's pro-democracy bloc has been virtually blotted out as the last functioning party announced its dissolution Sunday, a day before the territory marks the fifth anniversary of the Beijing-imposed national security law amid increasing doubts over its autonomy.
The League of Social Democrats, considered one of the more radical voices in the city's opposition spectrum, cited "immense political pressure" as the reason for the party's unanimous decision, adding that it might have otherwise faced consequences.
"We should know that 'one country, two systems' has become 'one country, one system' already," chairwoman Chan Po-ying told reporters in announcing the liquidation, referring to a governance system for Hong Kong to retain a capitalist way of living after its sovereignty was in 1997 transferred from Britain to China.
The party had received at least three warnings from those associated with Hong Kong authorities this year, including letters sent to individual members' families, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The move came after the Democratic Party, Hong Kong's oldest and largest opposition political party, started in April the process of dissolution.
Founded in 2006, the left-leaning League of Social Democrats was known for filibustering and hurling objects such as bananas and drinking glasses at the city's legislature to protest against government bills. Even after Beijing imposed the national security legislation in 2020, the party had remained relatively active on the streets.
Co-founder Leung Kwok-hung and fellow party member Jimmy Sham, an LGBT rights activist, were arrested in 2021 on suspicion of conspiring to subvert state power, alongside 45 other pro-democracy politicians and activists who took part in an unofficial primary election in 2020.
Beijing's crackdown over the past few years, including the prosecution of pro-democracy figures and media workers and the introduction of "patriots only" electoral reforms, has made it almost impossible for opposition candidates to run for Hong Kong's Legislative Council.
Earlier this month, Xia Baolong, Beijing's point man on Hong Kong affairs, claimed at a forum that the struggle against infiltration, subversion and secession by foreign elements continues in the former British colony.
As of mid-June, Hong Kong authorities had arrested 332 people on suspicion of breaching the national security law, of whom 189 individuals and five companies were prosecuted.
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