HK First 香港本土 | |
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Leader | Claudia Mo Gary Fan |
Founded | 31 January 2013 |
Ideology | Localism (HK) Liberalism (HK) |
Regional affiliation | Pro-democracy camp |
Colours | Gold/Brown |
Legislative Council | 0 / 90 |
District Councils | 0 / 470 |
Website | |
HK First on Facebook | |
HK First | |||||||||||||
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Chinese | 香港本土 | ||||||||||||
Literal meaning | Hong Kong homeland | ||||||||||||
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HK First is a localist political party in Hong Kong. It had one representative in the Legislative Council of Hong Kong,Claudia Mo,a former pan-democratic Civic Party member. It was founded in 2013 by two pro-democracy legislators,Claudia Mo and Gary Fan,to "defend the city's culture from 'mainlandisation'". [1]
The group was formed on 31 January 2013 by two pan-democratic legislators,Claudia Mo of the Civic Party and Gary Fan of the Neo Democrats,who sympathised with the growing localist sentiment in Hong Kong. It claims to "help safeguard not only Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy,but also its lifestyle as guaranteed unchanged for 50 years under one country,two systems and stipulated in the Basic Law". [2]
Gary Fan ran in the 2012 Legislative Council election on a "moderate" localist platform in New Territories East while Claudia Mo ran in Kowloon West with the slogan of "against mainlandisation". The two ran again in the 2016 Legislative Council election,in which Fan lost his New Territories East seat,leaving the group with only one representative. In November 2016,Mo announced her resignation from the Civic Party,citing her differences with the party on localism and other issues. She said she would continue serving in the legislature as an "independent democrat" under the label "HK First". [3]
The group advocates for the protection of cultural aspects of the Hong Kong lifestyle,including the use of traditional Chinese characters,Cantonese and traditional phonetic translation between English and Cantonese,which many localists deemed to be under threat from mainland China's simplified Chinese,Mandarin Chinese and its phonetic translation.
In contrast to many other localist organisations,the group does not advocate for Hong Kong independence. [2]
It also opposed the influx of mainland tourists,grey goods traders,Mainland schoolchildren who were seen as taken away the quota of the local students,panic-buying of baby formula and various social issues in related to Hong Kong–Mainland conflict. It opposed the government's Individual Visit Scheme to limit the number of mainland tourists. [4] They co-sponsored a controversial ad which claimed that reducing immigration would help the people of Hong Kong to get to the bottom of the housing problem,while rejecting claims of bias or discrimination against mainlanders, [5] despite condemnation from the Equal Opportunities Commission. [6] Fan later introduced a motion on adhering to the need to "put Hong Kong people first" in formulating policies,but the motion was ultimately defeated. [7]
The party currently has no elected representatives.
The pro-democracy camp,also known as the pan-democracy camp,is a political alignment in Hong Kong that supports increased democracy,namely the universal suffrage of the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council as given by the Basic Law under the "One Country,Two Systems" framework.
Gary Fan Kwok-wai is a Hong Kong politician. He was the member of Legislative Council from 2012 to 2016 and from 2018 to 2019 after winning the 2018 by-election for New Territories East. He is also a former member of the Sai Kung District Council for Wan Hang. Former leader of the reformist faction in the Democratic Party,he led the reformists splitting from the party to form the Neo Democrats over the controversial 2010 constitutional reform proposal,taking a moderate localist stance.
The Civic Party (CP) was a pro-democracy liberal political party in Hong Kong.
New immigrants in Hong Kong generally refers to migrants from mainland China (Mainlanders). Despite its literal meaning,the term is rarely used to describe newly arrived immigrants from regions other than Mainland China. Since the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong to The People's Republic of China,increasing numbers of migrants from mainland China have been coming to the territory.
Highly skilled applicants can apply for residency in Hong Kong. Tests that award points to skilled applicants and for economic contributions by investors were recently introduced by the Immigration Department of Hong Kong.
Claudia Mo Man-ching is a Hong Kong journalist and politician,a member of the pan-democracy camp. She represented the Kowloon West geographical constituency,until November 2020 when she resigned along other pro-democrats to protest against the disqualification of four of her colleagues by the government.
The Neo Democrats was a pro-democracy,localist political group in Hong Kong composed mainly of former and disenchanted members of the Democratic Party New Territories East branch after the 2012 constitutional reform proposals. It had held one seat in the Legislative Council until Gary Fan lost his re-election in the 2016 Legislative Council election. Fan won the seat back in the 2018 by-election,but lost his seat after a court declared that he was not duly elected. It held 8 seats in the District Councils before its dissolution on 26 June 2021.
Hong Kong independence is the notion of Hong Kong as a sovereign state,independent from the People's Republic of China (PRC). Hong Kong is a special administrative region (SAR) of China and is thus granted a high degree of de jure autonomy,as stipulated by Article 2 of the Hong Kong Basic Law ratified under the Sino-British Joint Declaration. Since the transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the PRC in 1997,a growing number of Hongkongers have become concerned about what they see as Beijing's encroachment on the territory's freedoms and the failure of the Hong Kong government to deliver "genuine democracy". Advocating for Hong Kong independence became illegal after the Hong Kong national security law in 2020.
Civic Passion was a radical,populist,localist,and nativist political party in Hong Kong. Founded by Wong Yeung-tat as an activist group in 2012,it held strong localist views and opposed the involvement of the Chinese government in the governance of Hong Kong. In the 2016 Legislative Council election,the Civic Passion formed an electoral alliance with Wong Yuk-man's Proletariat Political Institute and Chin Wan's Hong Kong Resurgence Order. Cheng Chung-tai became the only candidate of the alliance elected to the legislature and subsequently took over as the leader of the Civic Passion. After the election,Cheng reorganised the group into a political party and pulled out from the social activism. From December 2020 to August 2021,it was the only opposition party in the Legislative Council of Hong Kong.
The 2016 Hong Kong Legislative Council election was held on 4 September 2016 for the 6th Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo). A total of 70 members,35 from geographical constituencies (GCs) and 35 from functional constituencies (FCs),were returned. The election came after the rejection of the 2016/2017 constitutional reform proposals which suggested the electoral method for the 2016 Legislative Council remains unchanged.
Relations between people in Hong Kong and mainland China have been relatively tense since the early 2000s. Various factors have contributed,including different interpretations of the "one country,two systems" principle;policies of the Hong Kong and central governments to encourage mainland visitors to Hong Kong;and the changing economic environment. More broadly,there exists resentment toward mainland-Hong Kong convergence and assimilation,as well as the increasing interference from the government of China and its ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Hong Kong's internal affairs.
Youngspiration is a localist political party in Hong Kong founded in 2015. It emerged after the 2014 Hong Kong protests with an agenda of protection of Hong Kong people's interests and culture against the interference of the Chinese government and advocated the "Hong Kong nation's right to self-determination". The group wants a self-determination referendum in 2020 with the results effective in 2047,when China's "one country,two systems" promise ends. As of 2016,the convenor of the group is Baggio Leung.
Hong Kong Indigenous is a localist political group established in 2015. It is known for its hardline localist stances and militant methods of protesting. It has been actively involved in protests and engaged into violent clashes with police,including in the anti-parallel trading protests and the Mong Kok unrest. Edward Leung and Ray Wong are the former convenor and key figure of the group.
In Hong Kong,localism is a political movement centred on the preservation of the city's autonomy and local culture. The Hong Kong localist movement encompasses a variety of groups with different goals,but all of them oppose the perceived growing encroachment of the Chinese central government on the city's management of its own political,economic,and social affairs. While the movement's milder elements advocate for greater autonomy while remaining as part of China,the more radical elements call for a return to British rule or full independence as a sovereign state. Some also advocate for a more aggressive and militant stance against the mainland government in defending local interests. For that reason,they are labelled as "radicals" and "separatists" by the Chinese government. Issues of concern to the localist camp include land use and development,cultural and heritage conservation,parallel trading,and the increasing number of mainland immigrants and mainland tourists. Although grouped together with liberals,they have a distinct view as they advocate for Hongkongers' right to self-determination. In the aftermath of the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests,localists were largely absorbed into the pro-democracy camp.
Localist camp or localist and self-determination groups refers to the various groups with localist ideologies in Hong Kong. It emerged from post-80s social movements in the late 2000s which centred on the preservation of the city's autonomy and local lifestyles and opposed the perceived growing encroachment of the Chinese government on the city's management of its own political,economic,and social affairs.
Proletariat Political Institute is a political organisation and school headed by Wong Yuk-man,former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. It was first established by Wong in 2010 as a political educational institute within the League of Social Democrats (LSD),a pro-democratic social democratic party where Wong was the then chairman. It quit the LSD under Wong's leadership and became one of the coalition members of the radical democratic party People Power in 2011. It left the People Power in 2013 and became one of the leading organisations for the localist cause in Hong Kong.
The Sixth Legislative Council of Hong Kong was the sixth meeting of the legislative branch of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. Running from 1 October 2016 to 31 December 2021,it was the longest legislative session in Hong Kong history,lasted for five years and three months. The term of the session was originally from 1 October 2016 to 30 September 2020,but was extended by the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) due to the postponement of the 2020 Legislative Council election.
Cheng Chung-tai is a Hong Kong academic,social activist,and politician. After winning a seat in the New Territories West constituency in the 2016 legislative election,he took over from Wong Yeung-tat as chairman of Civic Passion until the dissolution in 2021.
The Hong Kong Legislative Council members' oath-taking controversy was a series of events surrounding the oaths of office of a dozen pro-democracy and localist camp members-elect of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo) on 12 October 2016 which have resulted in the disqualification of six members,Sixtus "Baggio" Leung and Yau Wai-ching of Youngspiration,who were unseated by the court on 15 November 2016,and Leung Kwok-hung,Nathan Law,Yiu Chung-yim and Lau Siu-lai on 14 July 2017.
On 11 November 2020,15 Hong Kong pro-democracy members of the Legislative Council announced their resignations in protest against the decision of the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) which bars Legislative Council members from supporting Hong Kong independence,refusing to recognise Beijing's sovereignty over Hong Kong,seeking help from "foreign countries or foreign forces to interfere in the affairs of the region" or committing "other acts that endanger national security" that resulted in the disqualification of pro-democracy legislators Alvin Yeung,Dennis Kwok,Kwok Ka-ki and Kenneth Leung. In July 2020,the four had been barred from running in the subsequently postponed Legislative Council election originally scheduled for September 2020. The resignation en masse left the Legislative Council membership dwindled to 43 out of the total number of 70 seats,with virtually no opposition for the first time since the 1997 handover.