Face of the pro-independence Hong Kong National Party: students and 20-somethings who shun outside donors
Convenor Chan Ho-tin says the radical group is entirely funded by its members to guarantee its ‘autonomy and sustainability’
The emergence of the pro-independence Hong Kong National Party has led to intense media scrutiny of the group’s background, as few details have emerged since it announced itself on the local political scene.
At the party’s first press conference on Monday, which was held in an industrial building in Tuen Mun, only the group’s convenor Chan Ho-tin and another person to handle the press were in attendance.
While a student at Hong Kong Polytechnic University last year he led a campaign in an attempt to split the student union from the Hong Kong Federation of Students.
It would be great if we could at least punch him
When asked by reporters who the party’s other members were, Chan said: “Our party members are made up of active university students, as well as some fresh graduates who have been working for a few years, and professionals. They are mostly in their 20s.”
Chan stressed the party was entirely funded by its members, a point the group has since reiterated on its Facebook page.
Speaking on myradio.hk, an online radio programme, Chan on Tuesday stated that the party did not have a single funder, as he believed such an arrangement would hamper the group’s autonomy and sustainability.
“Due to limited resources, all the decoration of the press conference venue was done by party members through day and night,” the post read.
