London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Oct 06, 2025

Hong Kong democrats face choice: Engage Beijing or give up seats

Hong Kong democrats face choice: Engage Beijing or give up seats

Following China’s delay of Hong Kong’s legislative elections, opposition lawmakers face a defining choice: Keep playing by Beijing’s rules? Or quit and join the radicals in the streets?

The 22 opposition members of the city’s elected Legislative Council are under intense pressure from their supporters to resign en masse before the body reconvenes next month for an extra year. Radical activists argue that staying on would legitimize Beijing’s decision to postpone the election originally planned for Sept. 6 — when the pro-democracy bloc had hoped to win an unprecedented majority on the body.

“I oppose any course of action that’s not consistent with holding an election and getting a renewed mandate from the people,” said lawmaker Raymond Chan, who dismissed the upcoming session as “illegal.” “I do not accept Beijing’s appointment.”

Moderates, however, fear surrendering their biggest political platform and giving China a freer hand to curb civil liberties in the former British colony. Opposition lawmakers on the 70-seat council have long been among Hong Kong’s most recognizable democracy advocates and have successfully used their votes to block some of Beijing’s most contentious proposals.

The split illustrates the bleak outlook for Hong Kong’s opposition after a sweeping crackdown by China, including a wave of arrests, a new national security law and the mass disqualification of legislative candidates. To decide whether they should quit, pro-democracy lawmakers have agreed to hold a week-long public opinion poll starting Monday.

The survey is scheduled to take about a week to complete. Most expect a majority to favor resignation, since a similar poll last month found 63% were opposed to them staying on.

“Both factions hope that the poll results will pacify their own arguments,” said Sonny Lo, an academic and commentator on Hong Kong politics. “The problem is, they are using the poll as a band-aid solution to overcome their ideological differences.”

The dispute plays into China’s efforts to break an opposition that last year managed to mount a historic wave of large, disruptive and sometimes violent protests against the city’s Beijing-backed leader Carrie Lam. In June, China’s top legislative body handed down a tough national security law that outlawed many of the tactics used by protesters, from advocating U.S. sanctions to disrupting mass transit to shouting slogans for “revolution.”

Hong Kong authorities subsequently used the law to arrest more than 20, activists including media tycoon Jimmy Lai, and bar a dozen more from running for election. Meanwhile, Lam has blamed the threat of coronavirus for emergency actions to ban public gatherings that could turn into demonstrations and delay the election. The National People’s Congress in Beijing then weighed in to extend the four-year terms of sitting legislators by “not less than one year.”

“The decision by the NPC to postpone the election actually put the ball back in their court: They either split among themselves or withdraw and disappear altogether,” said Tian Feilong, an associate law professor at Beihang University in Beijing. “Such a reckless move also means they’re giving up the channel to communicate and game with the central government, and they are willing to marginalize themselves.”

Resigning early could be seen as “violating” the national legislature’s legally binding decision to extend the lawmakers’ terms, Tian said. That raises the risk that those who step down could be kept from running again, since Hong Kong has given election officials wide latitude to bar candidates who defy China’s edicts.


Police detain protesters after they called for a rally against the postponement of legislative elections and China’s imposition of a national security law in Hong Kong on Sept. 6.


Thousands of protesters defied social-distancing rules and returned the streets on Sept. 6, in a show of anger over the delayed election. Hundreds were arrested. Demonstrations could flare again on China’s Oct. 1 National Day holiday, an occasion that saw some of last year’s most intense unrest.

While all 22 pro-democracy lawmakers issued a statement on Facebook opposing the extension of their four-year terms, only two, including Chan, have announced their intention to boycott the session. At least 15 have pledged to step down if the survey showed more than 50 percent wanted them to go.

Fernando Cheung, who often attempted to mediate between radical demonstrators and police during last year’s protests, opposes quitting even though he signed the pledge. He argues that resigning would only make it easier for Beijing to impose its will as it has done on Muslim Uighurs in the western region of Xinjiang.

“It’s a necessary and responsible tactic to stay in a relatively more powerful position to continue the fight,” Cheung said. “We will slide rapidly into a repressive state that is similar to Xinjiang without a pro-democracy force in the legislature.”

Just months ago, the opposition had hoped to ride the momentum of the protests and a landslide win in last fall’s District Council elections to legislative victory. Even without a majority, “pan-democratic” politicians were able in 2015 to block a China-backed bill that would have limited Hong Kong’s first direct leadership election to candidates approved by Beijing.

“Once a number of them resign, they won’t be able to block another bill again,” said Dixon Ming Sing, an associate professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology who specializes in local politics.

There are other costs, too, including losing the ability to hire staff and lease office space. Those who resign might still struggle to reconcile their more moderate views with a radical base that has increasingly advocated violence, vandalism and once-fringe ideas like independence from China.

At the same time, some democrats who resign could capitalize on the support they receive to seek re-election, where they can continue to challenge the government, said Regina Ip, a pro-establishment lawmaker and member of Lam’s Executive Council.

“From our point of view, next year will be anything but calm,” Ip said.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
×