Guns, cannons ... and polyps: can Hong Kong’s largest pro-Beijing party weather political storm?
Despite several DAB members being embroiled in controversy lately, analysts believe rows will have little impact on party’s performance in coming Legco polls
It has been a bad fortnight for the largest party in the Legislative Council, as three of its well-known members were drawn into controversies, sparking public outcry and raising questions about an internal rift.
However, political analysts believe the storm is unlikely to do much harm to the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, as it is prepared to give up some of its 13 seats in the September polls to make way for younger allies in the legislature.
The first of the recent controversies surrounding the DAB erupted on May 21, when party member Lawrence Ma Yan-kwok misquoted a Beijing-based legal expert as saying that the Chinese government could suppress Hong Kong independence activists with “guns and cannons”, sparking criticism from pan-democrats that he had destroyed the relatively relaxed atmosphere created by state leader Zhang Dejiang’s meeting with them during his recent Hong Kong visit.
On Wednesday, DAB lawmaker “Tree Gun” Christopher Chung Shu-kun, 59, said he would decide whether to quit the party by the end of this month, after the party decided that lawyer Horace Cheung Kwok-kwan, 42, would lead its only slate on Hong Kong Island in September, effectively ruling Chung out of a second term.
Christopher Chung Shu-kun on DAB’s decision