The Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong (BPA) is a pro-business pro-Beijing political party in Hong Kong. Chaired by Lo Wai-kwok, the party is currently the second-largest party in the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, holding eight seats. It also has two representatives in the Executive Council and five seats in the District Councils.
Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong 香港經濟民生聯盟 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | BPA |
| Chairman | Lo Wai-kwok |
| Vice-Chairmen | Jeffrey Lam Priscilla Leung Kenneth Lau Ng Wing-ka |
| Founded | 7 October 2012 |
| Merger of | Economic Synergy Professional Forum |
| Headquarters | 3204A, 32/F, Tower 1, Admiralty Centre, 18 Harcourt Road, Hong Kong |
| Ideology | Conservatism (HK) Economic liberalism Chinese nationalism |
| Political position | Centre-right to right-wing |
| Regional affiliation | Pro-Beijing camp |
| Colours | Blue and green |
| Slogan | "Business Drives Economy, Professionalism Improves Livelihood" |
| Executive Council | 2 / 33 |
| Legislative Council | 9 / 90 |
| District Councils | 24 / 470 |
| NPC (HK deputies) | 2 / 36 |
| CPPCC (HK members) | 6 / 124 |
| Website | |
| bpahk.org | |
| Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong | |||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 香港經濟民生聯盟 | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 香港经济民生联盟 | ||||||||||||
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The Alliance came into existence on 7 October 2012 after the 2012 Legislative Council election, as a rebranding of a loose pro-business parliamentary group including Economic Synergy and Professional Forum, as well as two other nonpartisan legislators who mostly came from trade-based functional constituencies consisting of Hong Kong's leading chambers of commerce or business sectors. Out of the seven founding legislators, the party's only directly elected representative was Priscilla Leung of Kowloon West.
The party immediately emerged as the second-largest party in the legislature, overtaking the Liberal Party who had an uneasy relationship with Beijing as the representative for the big business interests. It also slowly expanded its grassroots by absorbing Priscilla Leung's Kowloon West New Dynamic and won 10 seats in the 2015 District Council election. The Alliance retained its seven seats in the 2016 Legislative Council election which saw its party chairman Andrew Leung elected as the Legislative Council President.
History
editFounding
editThe Alliance was officially launched on 7 October 2012 on the basis of a loose political alliance under the same name on 21 August 2011, where 12 members of the Legislative Council from three pro-business groups, the Liberal Party, the Professional Forum, and the Economic Synergy joined together as a counter force to the pro-labour factions in the Legislative Council as well as the government. They fought over the Competition Bill subsequent to the Minimum Wage Bill with the support of powerful business unions and representative of small and medium-sized enterprises.[1]
After the 2012 LegCo elections, members from the two members of the Professional Forum and three of the Economic Synergy with two other independent legislators officially formed the Alliance on 7 October 2012. Members were mostly supporters of Henry Tang, the former chief secretary who lost to Leung Chun-ying in the race in 2012 for the Chief Executive.[2] The group consists of seven legislators which makes it the second largest political group in the Legislative Council, six of the seven members are from the functional constituencies. Unlike the grouping of the former legislature, the Liberal Party did not join the Alliance.
Development
editDuring the 2015 Hong Kong electoral reform, Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung of the BPA and Ip Kwok-him of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) led a walk-out of pro-Beijing legislators right before the historic vote on 18 June as an impromptu attempt to delay the division so that his party member Lau Wong-fat, who was delayed, could cast his vote in favour of the Beijing-backed reforms.[3] The government's reform proposal failed as eight legislators voted in favour and 28 voted against, barely meeting the quorum of 35.[4] Since it had been expected the reform would be voted down by 41-28 (which would fall only six votes short of the two-thirds absolute majority stipulated by the Basic Law), the failure in pro-Beijing camp's sudden tactics resulted in a surprising landslide defeat that gave the rest of the world the impression there was no support for the blueprint.[5]
In the 2015 District Council election, the BPA won 10 seats in total. The alliance retained all seven seats in the 2016 Legislative Council election with the vice-chairman Jeffrey Lam narrowly defeated Liberal Party challenger Joseph Can Ho-lim in Commercial (First). After party chairman Andrew Leung was elected President of the Legislative Council, he resigned from as chairman post and was succeeded by Lo Wai-kwok. Leung was promoted as honorary chairman alongside Lau Wong-fat, while Lau's son, Kenneth Lau who took over his father seat in Heung Yee Kuk, was picked as the new vice-chairman.[6]
In December 2018, legislator Ng Wing-ka of Industrial (Second) was invited to join the party, making the alliance the second largest party in the legislature with eight seats.[7]
In February 2021, after Xia Baolong said that only "patriots" must govern Hong Kong, the BPA released a statement supporting Xia's position and that it looks forward to the changes.[8] Additionally, the BPA claimed that Beijing is not trying to suppress antigovernmental voices.[9]
Leadership
editChairmen
edit- Andrew Leung, 2012–2016
- Lo Wai-kwok, 2016–present
Vice-Chairmen
edit- Jeffrey Lam, 2012–present
- Christopher Cheung, 2012–2021
- Priscilla Leung, 2012–present
- Kenneth Lau, 2016–present
- Ng Wing-ka, 2018–present
Secretaries-General
edit- Abraham Shek, 2012–present
Honorary Chairmen
edit- Lau Wong-fat, 2012–2017
- Andrew Leung, 2016–present
Council Chairmen
edit- Peter Lam, 2012–present
Council Vice-Chairmen
edit- David Lie, 2012–present
Performance in elections
editLegislative Council elections
edit| Election | Number of popular votes |
% of popular votes |
GC seats |
FC seats |
EC seats |
Total seats | /− | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 49,745
|
2.29
|
1 | 6 | 7 / 70
|
0
|
2nd
| |
| 2021 | – | – | 0 | 5 | 2 | 7 / 90
|
1
|
3rd
|
District Council elections
edit| Election | Number of popular votes |
% of popular votes |
D.E. seats |
E.C. seats |
App. seats |
Ex off. seats |
Total seats | /− |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 27,452
|
1.90
|
11 | 1 | 12 / 458
|
| ||
| 2019 | 66,504
|
2.27
|
3 | 2 | 5 / 479
|
7
| ||
| 2023 | 59,105
|
5.04
|
4 | 8 | 10 | 2 | 24 / 470
|
18
|
Representatives
editExecutive Council
editLegislative Council
editDistrict Councils
editThe BPA holds 24 seats in 11 District Councils (2024–2027):
| District | Constituency | Member |
|---|---|---|
| Eastern | Appointed | Kacee Ting Wong |
| Southern | District Committees | Adam Lai Ka-chi |
| Howard Chao | ||
| Yau Tsim Mong | Yau Tsim Mong North | Li Sze-man |
| District Committees | Wong Kin-san | |
| Appointed | Chan Siu-tong | |
| Rowena Wong Siu-ming | ||
| Sham Shui Po | Sham Shui Po East | Chan Kwok-wai |
| District Committee | Jeffrey Pong Chiu-fai | |
| Appointed | Aaron Lam Ka-fai | |
| Kowloon City | Kowloon City South | Lee Chiu-yiu |
| District Committee | Leung Yuen-ting | |
| Appointed | Steven Cho Wui-hung | |
| He Huahan | ||
| Tuen Mun | Ex officio | Kenneth Lau Ip-keung |
| Yuen Long | Appointed | Chong Kin-shing |
| North | Zinnie Chow Tin-yi | |
| Tai Po | Tai Po South | Lo Hiu-fung |
| District Committees | Rex Li Wah-kwong | |
| Appointed | Chan Cho-leung | |
| Sha Tin | Ex officio | Mok Kam-kwai |
| Kwai Tsing | District Committees | Ariel Mok Yee-ki |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ So, Bennis Wai Yip; Kao, Yuang-kuang (2014). The Changing Policy-Making Process in Greater China: Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong: Case Research from Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Routledge. p. 112.
- ^ But, Joshua (9 January 2013). "Business Professionals Alliance 'has no fear' of direct elections".
- ^ "Why Did Pro-Beijing Lawmakers Walk Out of the Hong Kong Vote?". The Wall Street Journal. 18 June 2015.
- ^ Lam, Hang-chi (18 June 2015). "And so, we stagger into an even more uncertain future". ejinsight.
- ^ Cheung, Tony; Lai, Ying-kit; Lam, Jeffie (20 June 2015). "Bickering escalates in pro-Beijing camp over bungled Legco vote on Hong Kong political reform". South China Morning Post.
- ^ "盧偉國接替梁君彥任經民聯主席 劉業強增選為副主席". HK01. 13 October 2016.
- ^ "政Whats噏：吳永嘉入工商界政黨 一餐飯決定". on.cc. 2018-12-22.
- ^ "'Beijing must lead HK's electoral reforms' - RTHK". news.rthk.hk. Retrieved 2021-02-22.
- ^ "Legco looking forward to 'whatever Beijing decides' - RTHK". news.rthk.hk. Retrieved 2021-02-24.