The new grouping established by three mainland-born prominent businessmen, Li Shan, Clement Chen Jiawen, and Wang Chau-chi.
The association has close ties with Beijing’s office in Hong Kong. The Bauhinia Party came about from a sense of disappointment at the “weak” government of the city. According to the platform of this new Bauhinia Part, it seeks to promote a “democratic” political system suitable for Hong Kong-based on the rule of law and civil liberties “with the realization of universal suffrage as guaranteed by the Basic Law”.
The party’s ambition is to embrace people across the political spectrum and hopes to attract 250,000 members, from all across the sectors, although no timeline for the goal was given.
The disqualification and resignation of pan-democratic lawmakers and anticipated moves to as pro-democracy district councillors later have left a growing vacuum to be filled.
Some of the platforms include:
- Seeking for “another fifty years – unchanged – and have a hundred years of One Country, Two Systems”;
- Loving China and Hong Kong, safeguarding the rule of law and opposing discrimination against communities;
- Turning the Legislative Council into a bicameral legislature of the which the members of the lower house would be directly elected, while the Chief Executive would appoint members of the upper house through a political consultative committee;
- Establishing a public-private partnership to finance the Lantau Tomorrow Vision plan, a 1,700-hectare project to build a metropolis on human-made islands off Lantau.
Regarding suspicions its members belonged to the Communist Party, Wong Chau-chi one of the co-founders said: “It’s not correct to judge our party [on] whether we have underground members or not. And we never really asked our members whether you are underground [members] or not. We just look at whether you’re Hongkongers and do you want to do things for Hong Kong?”