China warns Hong Kong's last major opposition party to disband

11/4/2025 17:12

Five senior members of Hong Kong's Democratic Party, the city's biggest and last remaining major opposition party, say Chinese officials or middlemen have warned the parties to disband or face serious consequences, including possible arrests.



The Democratic Party, which was founded in 1994 in the years before Hong Kong's historic return from British to Chinese rule, has over the past few decades been the flagship opposition party that has united the city's democratic forces to push Beijing on democratic reforms and to uphold the financial hub's freedoms.



Amid a years-long national security crackdown by China after pro-democracy protests in 2019, the Democratic Party will hold an extraordinary general meeting on April 13 to seek members' views and possibly pave the way for the group's dissolution.



The group's chairman, Lo Kin-hei, has not given a concrete reason for the likely disbandment, but five senior Democratic Party members told Reuters they had been told in meetings with Chinese officials or individuals linked to Beijing in recent months that the party should close.