Has Beijing set the DAB on mission impossible?
Beijing has raised the bar for the party - it must support the government while helping to unite society. But that is much easier said than done
It felt like a celebration party for the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong yesterday, as it was lavishly described as one of the most important groups in the city by the state leader overseeing Hong Kong and Macau affairs as he feted them in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Words of appreciation flowed freely from Zhang Dejiang , chairman of the National People's Congress and the Communist Party's leading group on Hong Kong affairs.
But seasoned DAB leaders, including former party heavyweight Jasper Tsang Yok-sing who was at the meeting, know only too well that with great praise comes great responsibility - a complex challenge that the Beijing-loyalist party must tackle in the coming years.
Navigating that fine line between being supportive of the Hong Kong government but also staying close to and being a voice for the people will be key to its success, party elders acknowledge. Can they pull it off, they wondered yesterday as they soaked in the praise?
Zhang called on the DAB to scale new heights by winning wider recognition and expanding its influence in the community. Speaking before their meeting, he set the party a mission of making a difference in the community and uniting various sectors.
Zhang's expectations are far higher than those set for the DAB by another leader nine years ago. During the DAB's last visit to Beijing in September 2006, vice-president Zeng Qinghong called on the party to strive to raise its internal quality while improving its external image. The consensus among party leaders at the time was it that would need to continue recruiting young, professional and middle-class members.
Back then the DAB had only nine legislators and 62 district councillors and was still slowly recovering from the huge setback it suffered after 500,000 people took to the streets during the July 1 march of 2003 in protest at proposals to introduce controversial national security legislation.
When the 34-member delegation arrived in Beijing on Thursday, the party's report card could boast of 13 lawmakers and 132 district councillors. It has nearly 28,000 members - compared with 700-plus for the Democratic Party. And about 2,000 members of the DAB, which was originally founded in 1992, are professionals or have middle-class backgrounds.
During his meeting with the DAB delegation on Thursday, Lin Zhimin, deputy head of the United Front Work Department, again mentioned Zeng's famous quote about internal quality and external credibility.
"[Lin] acknowledged the development of the DAB over the past nine years," said party veteran and lawmaker Ip Kwok-him. "Lin said the DAB is moving in the right direction [towards Zeng's expectation]."
Lin also called on the DAB to play a "leading role" in consolidating the pro-establishment camp in the wake of the failed political reform.
Ip, part of that delegation nine years ago, said Zhang's call reflected the central government's now much higher expectations.
"They no longer only ask us to improve our external image but also to make more contributions," he said. "This mission is even more appropriate as we are now already the biggest political party in Hong Kong."
Ip believed that the party had met Zeng's expectations.
The DAB can't be too aggressive and radical when it fights for residents' rights
"The DAB has acquired a certain number of seats in both Legco and district councils and has significant influence in society. I guess people would acknowledge our status and, to be frank, not many people could easily play the coordinating role in the pro-establishment camp like the DAB does."
To accomplish the state leaders' latest mission, Ip said in the short-term the party should perform well in November's district council elections and the Legco poll next year while expanding its influence in the long run.
"As a party with vitality, we should develop our work and influence not only in district and legislative councils but also in the general society," he said, adding the party would not rule out recommending that more party members take up positions in the administration.
The DAB's visit to the capital was the first trip by a major pro-establishment party since the rejection of the reform package for the 2017 chief executive election. A botched walkout by 31 pro-establishment lawmakers from the legislature seconds before the vote meant there were only eight votes in favour of the package.
DAB chairwoman Starry Lee Wai-king, who took the helm of the party in April, said Zhang hoped they could unite society as well as conduct high-quality policy research.
The importance of coming up with feasible proposals on various policy issues dovetails with the Hong Kong government's pledge to focus on boosting the economy and improving livelihoods after the failed political reform exercise.
Despite the strides it has made in the past nine years, the DAB is now caught between a rock and a hard place - of supporting the government while also fighting for people's rights. The thorniest question is how to back the government without also paying a heavy price by being associated with its blunders or policy failures?
For Professor Lui Tai-lok, a sociologist at the Hong Kong Institute of Education, it is effectively a mission impossible.
"The DAB can't be too aggressive and radical when it fights for residents' rights or lobbies the government's endorsement of its proposals. It would contradict its role as a pro-establishment party," he said.
"If the DAB intends to step beyond its like-minded supporters and broaden its reach, it has to keep a distance from the government. But that's easier said than done given its obligation to support the administration," said Lui, who is also chairman of the think tank SynergyNet. "You can't win the support of the majority of Hong Kong people if you are not seen to be a group of independent-minded people."
The biggest hurdle for the DAB is Beijing's negative attitude towards party politics in Hong Kong. More importantly, it is loathe to accept the emergence of a ruling party, even the DAB, whose loyalty is beyond doubt.
As candidly admitted by Jasper Tsang in an interview with the in 2004, mainland officials were happy to see the DAB develop as an "election machine" that rivalled pan-democrats in direct elections - but not much else.
Some academics believe Beijing's approach to parties in Hong Kong remains unchanged.
The path ahead to the DAB's development into a mature political party may lie in Beijing's change in its own mindset.
