Meeting Point (Chinese: 匯點) was a liberal and moderate Chinese nationalist political organisation and party in Hong Kong formed by a group of former student activists in the 1970s and intellectuals for the discussion for the Sino-British negotiation on the question of Hong Kong prospect in 1983. It was one of the earliest groups in Hong Kong that favoured Chinese sovereignty over Hong Kong but wanted a free, democratic and autonomous Hong Kong.[1]
It emerged as one of the leading pro-democracy groups in the 1980s and was one of the two predecessors of today's Democratic Party, into which it was merged in 1994.
History
Sino-British agreement
It was founded on 9 January 1983 by a group of former student activists active in the 1970s and intellectuals, many of which were graduates of the University of Hong Kong. With Lau Nai-keung the founding Chairman and Yeung Sum the Vice-Chairman, the group stressed the autonomous government of "Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong" under the Chinese sovereignty in the midst of the Sino-British negotiations over Hong Kong sovereignty after 1997, which was a minor opinion at the time the mainstream opinion overwhelmingly supported British rule. Its support for peaceful reunification with China attracted Beijing's support.[2]
In 1994, the Meeting Point supported the electoral reform proposals carried out by the last GovernorChris Patten which were strongly opposed by the Beijing government. It caused an internal split within the Meeting Point which founding members including Lau Nai-keung, Tsang Shu-ki and Wong Chack-kie quit the party after the general meeting voted in favour of Patten's proposals. The Meeting Point later abstained in the amendment for a fully elected legislature moved by Emily Lau Wai-hing as it thought any infringement of the Basic Law would further enrage Beijing result in instability and the dismantling of the installed political structure.[5]
Merge into Democratic Party
Due to lack of effectiveness of the moderate approach and to further unite the pro-democracy camp for the 1995 Legislative Council elections, the Meeting Point and the United Democrats led by Anthony Cheung Bing-leung and Martin Lee merged into a new party, the Democratic Party, announced in April 1994. The two former Chairmen of the Meeting Point, Yeung Sum and Anthony Cheung became the two Vice-Chairmen of the new party and Andrew Fung Wai-kwong was the Treasurer. Anthony Cheung's appointment of the Hong Kong Affairs Adviser by Beijing was cancelled after the two party merged. The party's general meeting passed the motion of establishing the Democratic Party on 15 May 1994. It was officially dissolved in October 1994.
The Meeting Point members became a main faction in the Democratic Party with a more pro-middle class, pro-market and moderate agenda. It also stressed dialogue with Beijing and Hong Kong governments over struggle, and parliamentary politics over street action.[6] In the 1998 leadership election, the "Young Turks" faction staged a successful coup d'état, nominating Lau Chin-shek to defeat Anthony Cheung as Vice-Chairman. Anthony Cheung later quit the party in 2005 and established the think tank SynergyNet. He later joined the government as the Secretary for Transport and Housing in 2012.
↑Read Their Lips (I): A dossier of political leaders in Hong Kong. Pace Publishing Ltd.
↑Wong, Denise (15 October 1992). "A little dragon that blows plenty of fire". Hong Kong Standard.
↑Sing, Ming (2004). Hong Kong's Tortuous Democratization: A Comparative Analysis. Routledge. p.145.
↑Kuan, Hsin-chi; Liu, Zhaojia; Wang, Jiaying, eds. (2002). Out of the Shadow of 1997?: The 2000 Legislative Council Election in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Chinese University Press. pp.136–7.
