Pro-CCP leftists The pro-Beijing camp evolved from the pro-CCP faction in Hong Kong which existed since the establishment of the CCP. The
1922 Seamen's strike, led by the Chinese Seamen's Union and the 1925–26
Canton–Hong Kong strike, led by various left-wing labour unions, were the two major Communist-related labour movements in the
British colony of Hong Kong. During the
Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, the Communist East River guerillas were active in the
Pearl River Delta. The
Hong Kong and Kowloon Federation of Trade Unions (FTU), an umbrella trade union for the local left-wing unions, was founded in April 1948. After the Communist victory in the
Chinese Civil War, the local communists () remained in their semi-underground status. In the early post-war days, the Hong Kong and Kowloon Federation of Trade Unions, the
Chinese General Chamber of Commerce and the
Hong Kong Chinese Reform Association became the three pillars of the local pro-CCP organs, following the orders of the
New China News Agency, the
de facto Communist China's representative in Hong Kong. Their rivals were the
pro-Nationalist faction, who pledged allegiance to the
Nationalist government on Taiwan. The FTU took a leading role in the
Hong Kong 1967 Leftist Riots, which, inspired by the
Cultural Revolution in the Mainland, aimed at overthrowing the British colonial rule in Hong Kong. The leftists lost their prestige after the riots for a period of time as the general public was against the violence attributed to the leftists, although the presence of the pro-Beijing
Maoist elements remained strong in the universities and colleges throughout the 1970s, in which many of the pro-CCP university and college graduates became the backbones of the pro-Beijing camp today.
Transition period After the
Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984, the pro-CCP organisations became active again, of which many of them were appointed to various positions relating to the transition of the sovereignty of Hong Kong. The Beijing government also appointed many Hong Kong tycoons and professionals to sit on the
Hong Kong Basic Law Consultative Committee (BLCC) and the
Hong Kong Basic Law Drafting Committee (BLDC) as the means of forming a
united front. To ensure the post-1997 political system would be dominated by business and professional interests, the Business and Professional Group of the Basic Law Consultative Committee was formed in April 1986 to propose a conservative, less democratic proposal of
Group of 89 for electing the
Chief Executive and
Legislative Council, in contrast to the more progressive proposal of the
pro-democracy activists. Several new political parties, including the
New Hong Kong Alliance (NHKA) founded in 1989 by
Lo Tak-shing from the conservative wing and the
Business and Professionals Federation of Hong Kong (BPF) founded in 1990 by
Vincent Lo from the mainstream wing, evolved from the group. The
Liberal Democratic Federation of Hong Kong (LDF) consisted of the pro-government elected officeholders in which
Maria Tam was the key person was also formed in 1990 in preparation for the
first direct elections to the Legislative Council in 1991. The
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 sparked pro-democracy sentiments in Hong Kong. The newly formed democratic party, the
United Democrats of Hong Kong, enjoyed landslide victories in the
District Boards election,
Urban and Regional Council election and
Legislative Council election in 1991. To counter the pro-democracy influence in the legislature, the British-appointed
unofficial members of the Legislative Council launched the
Co-operative Resources Centre (CRC) in 1991 which transformed into the pro-business conservative
Liberal Party in 1993, becoming the arch rival of the United Democrats. In 1992, the traditional leftists also formed the
Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) under the direction of the
Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office. In 1994, a group of businessmen and professionals founded the
Hong Kong Progressive Alliance (HKPA) under the direction of the New China News Agency. The
large-scale democratisation initiated by then Governor
Chris Patten resulted in the deterioration of
Sino-British relations and led to the emergence of an "unholy alliance" of pro-Beijing businesspeople and leftist loyalists versus the pro-democratic popular alliance. The Liberal Party led by
Allen Lee launched a campaign attempting to defeat Patten's proposal which was backed by Beijing despite its eventual failure. Despite this, in the broadened franchise, the pro-Beijing camp was again defeated by the pro-democracy camp in the
1995 Legislative Council election. The Beijing government argued that the electoral reform introduced by Patten had violated the Joint Declaration, and thus they would scrap the reforms upon resumption of sovereignty. In preparation, a parallel legislature, the
Provisional Legislative Council, was set up in 1996 under the control of pro-Beijing camp, and it introduced as the Legislative Council upon the founding of the new SAR government in 1997.
Early post-handover years Since 1997, the pro-Beijing camp has never lost a majority in LegCo, controlling LegCo through a collaboration of the pro-Beijing groups with their support within the
functional constituencies. In 2002,
Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa formed a governing alliance with the DAB and Liberal Party, the two largest pro-Beijing parties in the legislature, by inviting the two chairmen,
Jasper Tsang and
James Tien, to the
Executive Council. On 1 July 2003, a peaceful crowd of more than 500,000 protested against the introduction of controversial legislation under
Article 23 of the Basic Law. James Tien, chairman of the Liberal Party and member of the Executive Council, forced the government to delay the second reading of the bill. The stance of the DAB on Article 23 and their blind support for the Tung Chee-hwa's administration were strongly criticised and led to their losses in the
District Council election. In 2005, veteran civil servant
Donald Tsang succeeded the unpopular Tung Chee-hwa stepped down as Chief Executive in Beijing's direction. The pro-government camp supported the Tsang government, even though some traditional leftists questioned Tsang's background in the colonial civil service. After the setbacks in 2003, the pro-Beijing camp won back seats lost in 2003 in the
2007 District Council election, in which the DAB became the largest victor. The DAB enjoyed another victory in
2011 District Council election. In the
Hong Kong legislative election, 2012, the pro-Beijing camp won more than half of the geographical constituency seats respectively in
Hong Kong Island,
Kowloon West and
New Territories West, narrowing the number of seats held in the geographical constituencies between pro-Beijing and pro-democrats to 17 seats and 18 seats respectively. The pro-Beijing camp retained control of the Legislative Council and the DAB remained the largest party with 13 seats in total. Since the late 2000s, the pro-Beijing camp has expanded its spectrum of support from pro-business elites and traditional leftists to those from a broader background. The former
Secretary for Security Regina Ip, who was in charge of introducing the Basic Law Article 23 stood in the
Hong Kong Island by-election in 2007 against the former
Chief Secretary Anson Chan supported by the pro-democrats. Despite her defeat, she was able to be elected in the
2008 Legislative Council election, and formed the middle class and professional oriented
New People's Party in 2011. Some pro-Beijing legal professionals who ran as independents, such as
Priscilla Leung,
Paul Tse and
Junius Ho were elected to the Legislative Council in recent elections, which were seen receiving support from the
Liaison Office, which was viewed growing influence in Hong Kong's domestic affairs. On the other hand, the FTU, which operated as the sister organisation of the DAB, began to run under its own banner, taking a more pro-labour and pro-grassroots stance as compared to the DAB's big-tent position.
2012 Chief Executive election and aftermath Two pro-Beijing candidates ran for the
Chief Executive election in 2012, with the Chief Secretary
Henry Tang and the Convenor of the Executive Council,
Leung Chun-ying using scandals, dirty tactics and smears on each other. With fierce competition deeply dividing the pro-Beijing camp into the Tang camp and the Leung camp, Leung eventually won the election with the support of the Liaison Office. After the election, Beijing called for a reconciliation of the two camps. In late 2012, some pro-Leung advocacy groups with the allegations of Beijing's financial supports began to emerge such as
Voice of Loving Hong Kong, Caring Hong Kong Power and Hong Kong Youth Care Association, which launched counter-protests against the pan-democrats. The Leung Chun-ying administration with its hardline stance on the growing movement for
Hong Kong independence after the 2014
Umbrella Revolution was strongly criticised by the pro-democrats and some pro-Beijing moderates. James Tien, a keen supporter of Henry Tang in 2012 became a leading critic of Leung. He was stripped from his
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) office during the 2014 protests after he asked Leung to step down. In the
2015 District Council and
2016 Legislative Council elections, the pro-democrats and localists scored better-than expected victories over the pro-Beijing camp. In December 2016, Leung Chun-ying announced he would not seek re-election. The two top officials,
Chief Secretary for Administration Carrie Lam and
Financial Secretary John Tsang emerged as front runners in the
2017 Chief Executive election after Leung's announcement. Both resigned from their posts; while Lam's resignation was approved by the central government within days, Tsang's resignation was delayed for a month, which sparked the speculation that Tsang was not Beijing's favoured candidate. With the active lobbying by the Liaison Office, Lam received 580 nominations from the 1,194-member
Election Committee, while Tsang struggled to get enough nominations from the pro-Beijing electors and had to rely on the pro-democracy camp. Lam went on to win the election with 777 votes, beating Tsang's 365 votes and retired judge
Woo Kwok-hing's 21 votes. The pro-Beijing camp formed a united front in the
2018 Legislative Council by-election. It took two of the four vacancies left by the
2016 Legislative Council oath-taking controversy, by taking the
Kowloon West geographical constituency and
Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape functional constituency from the pro-democrats and localists.
Vincent Cheng of the DAB narrowly defeated
Yiu Chung-yim who was disqualified from the Legislative Council in the oath-taking controversy, becoming the first pro-Beijing candidate to win in a
single-member district election since the handover. == Convenor ==