CIVIC PARTY: SEEKING FUNDS AND SUPPORT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HONG KONG 001744 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP AND EAP/CM NSC FOR DENNIS WILDER E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/26/2031 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PREL HK CH SUBJECT: CIVIC PARTY: SEEKING FUNDS AND SUPPORT REF: A. HONG KONG 1072 ¶B. HONG KONG 1417 ¶C. HONG KONG 1512 Classified By: Acting E/P Chief Jeff Zaiser. Reasons: 1.4(b,d). ¶1. (C) Summary: More than one month after its inauguration as Hong Kong's newest political party, the Civic Party (CP) continues to promote itself and its platform to the public and to seek financial support for its activities. On April 22, CP Chairman Kuan Hsin-chi and party leader Audrey Eu mingled with shoppers in Hong Kong's busy Causeway Bay district as they collected contributions from pedestrians and burnished their grassroots credentials. One of the party's first tasks is to define itself and rebut the notion that it will be solely a "middle class" party. With a current membership of just one hundred founding members, the CP is still relatively small, but hopes to expand its influence in the political process and eventually become a "governing party." ¶2. (C) One major challenge facing the new party is its relationship with Beijing. Though the CP wants to establish itself foremost as a party grounded in Hong Kong affairs and committed to the promotion of democracy, it also is acutely aware of the importance of improving its relationship with the Central Government. Through its deliberate omission of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown from its party manifesto, the CP has paved the way for a dialogue with Beijing, but to date has had only low-level contacts. The CP also must overcome Beijing's concern regarding the role of Article 45 Concern Group lawmakers in the legislature's rejection of the HKG's constitutional reform proposals in December 2005, as well as its rumored relationship with former Chief Secretary Anson Chan. Separately, two democratic contacts told us that Beijing had asked local tycoons to withhold donations to the Civic Party until after Donald Tsang has been successfully re-elected Chief Executive in 2007. While the CP and the Democratic Party have announced a coordinated strategy on the Chief Executive election, the two parties will go head to head for democratic votes in the District Council and Legislative Council elections. End Summary. Mingling With the People -------------- ¶3. (C) The April 22 appearance on the streets of Hong Kong by the two leaders of Hong Kong's newest pro-democracy party, Chairman Kuan Hsin-chi and party leader Audrey Eu, was not to demonstrate for accelerated implementation of universal suffrage. Rather, Kuan and Eu sought to address the two most urgent needs of the newly formed party, funding and grassroots appeal. Mingling with shoppers in Hong Kong's busy Causeway Bay district, Eu banged a drum while Kuan played a gong as they collected contributions from pedestrians and generally sought to drum up support among the voters. A Middle Class Party? -------------- ¶4. (C) More than one month after its inauguration (ref a),CP leaders are striving to meet these two needs as they continue to introduce the party and its platform to the public. In that regard, one of their first tasks has been to rebut the notion that the CP will be solely a "middle class" party, not particularly interested in grassroots issues. On March 26 Eu, who also is a member of the Legislative Council (Legco) and a barrister, responded to this allegation on a radio program, saying, "We call ourselves the Civic Party because we believe in civil society...we believe that it is wrong for a political party to pitch one sector against the other. Just as it is wrong to care only for the middle class, it is equally wrong to work only for the grass roots." Eu revisited this theme on April 13, acknowledging that while most CP members are lawyers and professionals, "they originated from the grassroots." (Comment: Perhaps in an effort to burnish its grassroots credentials, the CP has recruited Fernando Cheung, the legislator representing the social welfare functional constituency, who will serve as one of the party's two Vice Chairman. End Comment.) ¶5. (C) According to Executive Council member Anthony Cheung, however, catering to the middle class may actually be one of the CP's strengths. Cheung told poloff recently that one weakness of Hong Kong's Democratic Party (DP) has been its failure to address the needs of the middle class while simultaneously catering to the sometimes conflicting demands of its grassroots activists. With an alternative party now HONG KONG 00001744 002 OF 003 available to pro-democracy and middle class Hong Kongers, Cheung predicted that many professionals would support the CP rather than the DP. And a Governing Party? -------------- ¶6. (C) With a current membership of just one hundred founding members, six of whom are Legco members, the CP is still relatively small, but it hopes to expand its influence in the political process and eventually become a "governing party." In this regard, it recently supported Liberal Party Chairman James Tien's proposal to amend an election bill under discussion in the Legco to allow the winning Chief Executive candidate to retain his/her political party affiliation. Tien's proposal, not expected to pass, would strengthen the role of parties in politics and establish a "ruling party" (ref b). Relationship with Beijing -------------- ¶7. (C) Through its deliberate omission of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown in its party manifesto, the CP has strategically differentiated itself from the DP and, more importantly, paved the way for an improved relationship with Beijing. (Note: The DP manifesto calls on the Central Government to "overrule its position on the event (1989 Tiananmen crackdown)." It is unlikely that Beijing will initiate a constructive dialogue with the DP while this statement remains in the manifesto. End Note.) On April 12, CP Chairman Kuan explained to E/P Chief and poloff that it was important for the party to establish itself foremost as a party grounded in Hong Kong affairs and committed to the promotion of democracy in Hong Kong. Kuan rejected suggestions that his party was trying to avoid political baggage by not including a call for the reversal of the June 4 verdict. Instead, he insisted that the verdict should be left for history to decide, and that the DP's focus on Tiananmen had diverted efforts to develop democracy in Hong Kong. ¶8. (C) Kuan said his party was open to dialogue with the central government, although to date they have had only low-level contacts. Executive Council member and DP co-founder Anthony Cheung beleves that, while Beijing had been "grooming" thefour Article 45 Concern Group lawmakers for a roe as reliable partners in Hong Kong's governance,the new CP will need to further develop its relatinship with Beijing to overcome their concerns ovr the lawmakers' role in the December 2005 rejecion of Chief Executive Tsang's constiutional reform proposals. Cheung also said the Central Government has questioned the motives of the A45, both in the media and privately. Similarly, on April 6, Liberal Party founder and political commentator Allen Lee said that the CP represented "a new political force" and "a new political hope" of which Beijing would be "very wary." ¶9. (C) Another possible reason for Beijing's uneasiness regarding the CP is speculation about the party's relationship with former Chief Secretary Anson Chan. Rumors that A45 members urged Chan to participate in last December's pro-democracy rally continue to swirl in Hong Kong. Mandy Tam told us, unequivocally, that no one from the CP had asked Chan to join the rally. Beijing's real concern, however, may be that Chan might contest the 2007 Chief Executive election; although her chances of victory would be minimal without Beijing's blessing, Chan remains extremely popular in Hong Kong and could siphon votes away from Donald Tsang. The "Sing Tao Daily" recently contended that if Chan ran, she would be the democrats' best chance of garnering more than one hundred Election Committee votes. Funding -------------- ¶10. (C) In an April 20 announcement of its new fund-raising campaign, the CP said that to date it had raised HKD 1.8 million (USD 233,000) but needed an additional HKD 10 million (USD 1.3 million) to fund its operations for the next two years. Chairman Claudia Mo of the party's fundraising committee said that half of the money raised so far had come from party members and their friends and relatives. The CP has sent letters requesting donations to business tycoons, companies and chambers of commerce. ¶11. (C) On April 19, Democratic Party (DP) member James To told poloff that Beijing was alarmed by the popularity of the CP and was actively trying to limit its growth. He believed HONG KONG 00001744 003 OF 003 the central government was working to block the CP's potential funding sources while simultaneously infiltrating the party to steer it in Beijing's direction. To believes the CP would be much easier for mainlanders to infiltrate than the DP, because the views of CP members are much closer to those of Beijing. Nevertheless, he said the central government has not yet made a strategic decision on whether to work with the party, or try to isolate it. To believes CP members are a bit naive in their dealings with Beijing and don't recognize the Communist Party's tactics. Similarly, on April l3 Mandy Tam, CP Treasurer and legislator representing the accounting sector, told us that a local tycoon had informed the CP that Beijing had instructed Hong Kong businessmen not to give money to the CP until after Donald Tsang's successful re-election as CE next year. SIPDIS Coordination and Competition for Pro-Democracy Votes -------------- -------------- ¶12. (C) The CP's relationship with other members of the democracy movement is complex. On the one hand, the CP and the DP have announced plans to cooperate on their common goal of placing at least one hundred pro-democracy members on the 800-member Chief Executive Election Committee. However, both parties have told us separately that they do not intend to coordinate strategy when competing for votes in the District Council and Legislative Council elections. Separately, there has been speculation in the press that two more parties may be joining Hong Kong's political landscape: a more left-wing alliance led by former radio talk show host Raymond Wong and legislators Albert Chan and Leung "Long Hair" Kwok-hung, and a pro-Beijing labor party led by Federation of Trade Unions legislator Kwong Chi-kin. Cunningham