Bauhinia Party Eyes Legco Seats, Government Roles

The newly formed pro-Beijing Bauhinia Party is hoping to win seats in Legco and on the CE election committee, and join the government's ruling team, chairman Li Shan said on Monday.

Li told RTHK while attending Beijing’s annual plenary sessions that he aims to serve all Hong Kong people, adding that “the colour of the Bauhinia Party is patriotism.”

He said he would not rule out standing in the next Legco elections himself, but will focus on building the foundations of his party for now.

“Everything is possible. But I really think, at the moment, both for myself and the party, [running for Legco] is not a priority,” Li said.

He said he and "like-minded people" decided to form a new political party after feeling disheartened by the protests of 2019, adding that existing pro-establishment parties in the SAR "all serve particular classes of people", such as the labour or business sectors.

Li, a Hong Kong delegate to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, said he is not a Communist Party member.

He dismissed concerns about how well he could serve the Hong Kong people being as he can't speak Cantonese, despite living in the SAR for more than 20 years.

“Hong Kong is Asia’s World City. If, in an international city, you do not accept, or allow a person who speaks Mandarin to serve the people here, then it won’t be an international city,” he said.

Nevertheless, he said he will soon learn the local language.

“I didn’t have any wish to get involved in politics, and there was no need [to learn Cantonese] because living here is so convenient. But now, in order to exchange views with you all, I definitely will have to start learning Cantonese.”