In the second month of 2025, more groups decided to halt their activities in Hong Kong, a city once known for its vibrant civil society. The Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI) announced it would stop self-funded research and may even shut down, while the 30-year-old Democratic Party said it was taking steps to disband.
Meanwhile, the government proposed legal amendments to tighten trade union laws, citing national security reasons. We also learned that the verdict of the national security trial of jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai, which began last November, was expected to be handed down in October.
The Democratic Party to discuss disbandment
The Democratic Party, Hong Kong’s largest opposition group, announced on February 20 that it would set up a special task force to discuss steps to disband.
Following a two-hour meeting with the executive committee, the party’s chairperson Lo Kin-hei told journalists that the three-member task force would handle legal and financial matters relating to the dissolution and liquidation of the 30-year-old party.
He said that the committee had considered the “overall political environment” in making its decision.
The motion to dissolve the party would be subject to a vote by party members at a general meeting, Lo added. The 400-strong party will officially disband if more than three-quarters of party members attending the meeting support the motion.
“Developing democracy in Hong Kong is always difficult, especially over the past few years,” he told journalists. “We see a lot of civil society groups or political parties disbanding or dissolving.”
Multiple members of the party have been jailed or detained over national security offences, including Helena Wong and Lam Cheuk-ting, as well as former chairs Wu Chi-wai and Albert Ho.
PORI halts self-funded research, may shut down
The Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI) announced on February 13 that it would suspend all self-funded research and may “even close down.” The news came just weeks after its CEO, Robert Chung, was investigated twice by national security police.
Chung was first taken in for questioning on January 13, the same day the PORI office was raided. He was taken in a second time on January 27.
The series of questioning and the raid came after PORI’s former deputy CEO Chung Kim-wah, currently in the UK, was added to a wanted list in December 2024 over alleged violations of Beijing-imposed national security law.
PORI will “suspend all its self-funded research activities indefinitely, including regular tracking surveys conducted since 1992, as well as all feature studies recently introduced,” the polling organisation said in a statement.
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Explainer: Hong Kong’s national security crackdown – month 56
