Hong Kong Alliance hits back at Lam for striking group from firms' registry

Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China on Tuesday hit back at an executive order from Chief Executive Carrie Lam which has struck the group from the companies registry.

Rhoda Kwan, writing in Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) said that one of the liquidators for the now-disbanded group stated that the move was "premature and unnecessary".

Richard Tsoi, a former secretary for the Alliance now jointly in charge of administering its disbandment, slammed the executive decision as unreasonable and "totally regrettable."

"I think it's also difficult to understand why they would make such a decision. We have repeatedly said we disagree with the suggestion that the Alliance has done anything that is against national security," he told HKFP.

He also questioned why the executive order was needed, when the Alliance itself and three former leaders had already been charged with "incitement to subversion" under the security law, and are awaiting trial.

"It's premature and unnecessary to use an executive disorder to make such allegation without following proper legal procedures," he said.

Lam made the order in consultation with the executive council striking the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China from the city's companies registry.

Hong Kong's Companies Ordinance provides the chief executive with the power to strike a registered society from the companies registry if they are satisfied it is necessary for the interests of national security or public safety, or if it had a connection with an international or Taiwanese organisation.

The government's announcement alleged that the Alliance's five operational goals, including seeking to "end one-party dictatorship," amounted to "subverting state power", wrote Rhoda Kwan.

The decision comes after authorities cracked down on the Alliance last month, arresting its leaders under the national security law, freezing its assets, and seizing its property. The group is in the process of disbanding. The Alliance use to organise annual 1989 Tiananmen Massacre vigils.

The Alliance, formed in the spring of 1989 to support a budding democratic and labour movement in mainland China, had campaigned under five operational goals since Beijing's bloody crackdown on protesters on June 4 that same year.

Its goals included the release of all dissidents on mainland China, accountability for victims, an end to one-party dictatorship, and a democratic China, said Rhoda.

The Tiananmen Massacre ended months of student-led demonstrations in China. It is estimated that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people died when the People's Liberation Army was deployed to crackdown on protesters in Beijing.