It is reported that the "Hong Kong Development Center", led by Tung Chee-hwa, the former chief executive and vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, was quietly shut down in April this year.
People familiar with the matter pointed out that this secret think tank, which has been in operation for three years, was established to save the establishment’s severe election situation, but today, under the new situation of the National Security Law, the election crisis of the establishment faction has dropped significantly, and the center no longer exists. , whose "closure" reflects the end of a political era.
The reporter of "Hong Kong 01" asked Lu Hande, the director general of the center, through a text message, including the reason for the suspension of the center.
The phone showed that Lu had read the message, but did not reply to the inquiry.
The pro-establishment research institute "Hong Kong Development Center" commissioned Lei Dingming to estimate that by 4:45, the total number of marchers was between 187,000 and 212,000, with an average of 199,500.
(Photo by Ci Meilin)
According to people familiar with the matter, the Hong Kong Development Center was established in May 2019, at a time when the "Fugitive Offenders Ordinance" was rapidly heating up in society, and the establishment camp felt that the election of the district council at the end of the year was unstable. ”, so he paid for the establishment of this relatively low-key think-tank-type organization, which mainly conducts research and analysis on the political situation in Hong Kong.
It is known that the center has about 7 or 8 staff members.
Unlike think tanks such as the Solidarity Hong Kong Foundation, the Hong Kong Development Center is rarely exposed in the media, and the number of "in the newspapers" in the past three years can be counted.
Including the anti-revision parade launched by the FDC on June 9, 2019, the center commissioned Lei Dingming, former director of the Department of Economics of the University of Science and Technology, to estimate the number of people in the parade.
On the same day, the FDC announced that it was 1.03 million; the police said that the peak was 240,000.
The publication "Blues" once criticized the establishment's hilltop camp, causing echoes within the camp
In August and September 2020, the fifth issue of the publication "Blues" issued by the Hong Kong Development Center, with the title "A Critical Year: The Establishment's Realignment Strategy", focused on "symbols and politics". The article mentioned that the establishment should be The prevalence of "mountainism" has been changed to strengthen coordination between teams, which has reverberated in the establishment camp.
Liang Aishi served as director for two years and received 13 million yuan
According to the financial statements submitted by the center in August 2021, the think tank was officially registered in May 2019. The original directors were the current Legislative Council member Li Haoran and a man surnamed Yang, but from April 2020, the former legal Chief Secretary Leung Oisy and veteran media personality Luk Hande serve as directors.
The data also shows that the center received a donation of 7 million yuan from May to December 2019, plus the donation of 5 million yuan in 2020, a total of 12 million yuan in two years. financial support.
The total expenditure of the center in the two years was more than 13 million yuan, of which the "project expenditure" was 3.3 million yuan; the center's salary expenditure in 2020 was 3.7 million yuan.
In addition, according to the company registry information, the center had changed its registered address on April 20 this year.
According to sources, in view of Tung Chee-hwa's current physical condition and unable to take care of it, the center has stopped operating since April this year.
Tung Chee-hwa has led the establishment of many think-tank-type institutions over the years. The more familiar ones include the "Unite Hong Kong Fund", "Hong Kong Local Chronicle Center", "Thinking about Hong Kong", etc. The Hong Kong Development Center is relatively small in scale and low-key in color. One.
A person familiar with the political circle said that the suspension of the Hong Kong Development Center essentially reflects the change of the current situation in Hong Kong.
In the past, the democratic parties and the establishment factions were closely engaged in regional elections, and the establishment faction had a difficult election project. Various organizations that mainly attacked political issues and provided suggestions for the election campaign became popular. However, since the implementation of the National Security Law in mid-2020, the two camps have faced each other. The situation is no longer the case, the electoral crisis of the pro-establishment faction has greatly diminished, and the existence value of purely political think tanks such as the Hong Kong Development Center is no longer there.
Former Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa celebrated his 85th birthday in July.
(file picture)
Tung Chee-hwa's 85th birthday last month said people around him were "in good spirits"
Tung Chee-hwa, the former chief executive of the Hong Kong Development Center who contributed money and contributed to the establishment of the Hong Kong Development Center, was reportedly hospitalized at Queen Mary Hospital in September last year due to heart problems.
At that time, Tung Chee-hwa responded to media inquiries through a spokesman, saying that Dong Sheng's surgery was successfully completed and he was recovering. He thanked the outside world for their concern; in March this year, Li Jiachao was elected as the chief executive, and Dong was not on the nomination list, nor did he participate in the "July 1" celebration this year. Appeared in.
Tung Chee-hwa just celebrated his 85th birthday on the 7th of last month, and people around him said he was "in good spirits" that day.
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