The centrist camp, also known as the moderate camp or moderate groups, is

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

moderate Moderate is an ideological category which entails centrist views on a liberal-conservative spectrum. It may also designate a rejection of radical or extreme views, especially in regard to politics and religion. Political position Canad ...

political alignment. Although they are not actively pro-government at the level of the

pro-Beijing camp The pro-Beijing camp, pro-establishment camp or pro-China camp is a political alignment in Hong Kong which generally supports the policies of the Government of the People's Republic of China, Beijing central government and the Chinese Commun ...

, the centrist camp interacts with the mainland

Chinese government The government of the People's Republic of China is based on a system of people's congress within the parameters of a Unitary state, unitary communist state, in which the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) enacts its policies through people's ...

. For example,

Ronny Tong Ronny Tong Ka-wah (; born 28 August 1950) is a senior counsel and politician in Hong Kong. He is a current non-official member of the Executive Council of Hong Kong. He co-founded the Civic Party and was a member of the Legislative Council of ...

of Path of Democracy entered the

Executive Council of Hong Kong The Executive Council of Hong Kong (ExCo) is the Cabinet (government), cabinet of the Government of Hong Kong, acting as a formal body of advisers to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong that serves as a core policy-making organ assisting the c ...

, Chow Yick Hay (周奕希) of

Third Side Third Side ( zh, t=新思維, l=new thinking) is a political party in Hong Kong which claims to offer a "third road" to democracy, positioned between the pro-democracy camp and the pro-Beijing camp. It is led by Tik Chi-yuen, who was a co-foun ...

is a

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s United front (China), united front system. Its members adv ...

member based on

Zhaoqing Zhaoqing ( zh, c=肇庆), alternately romanized as Shiuhing, is a prefecture-level city in Guangdong Province, China. As of the 2020 census, its population was 4,113,594, with 1,553,109 living in the built-up (or metro) area made of Duanz ...

and vice-chairman of the

Kwai Tsing District Council The Kwai Tsing District Council () is the district council of Hong Kong, district council for the Kwai Tsing District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. It currently consists of 32 members of which 6 are directly elected from the three ...

. This is in contrast to the

pro-democracy camp The pro-democracy camp, also known as the pan-democracy camp, is a political alignment in Hong Kong that supports increased democracy, namely the universal suffrage of the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council as given by the Basic La ...

, which doesn't interact with the mainland government at all.

History

A 2015 poll by The University of Hong Kong found that 41.9% of Hong Kong's population are centrists, 28.4% of pro-democracy camp supporters, and 11.4% of pro-Beijing camp supporters.

Christine Fong Christine Fong Kwok-shan (, born 28 March 1966) is an engineer and politician in Hong Kong, as well as a former child actress. She is a current member of the Sai Kung District Council. Early life, education, and career Fong was a child actress ...

and Wong Sing-chi, classified as centrist in the

2016 New Territories East by-election The 2016 New Territories East by-election was held on 28 February 2016 after the incumbent Legislative Councillor Ronny Tong Ka-wah of New Territories East quit the Civic Party and resigned from the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo), effect ...

, lost to Alvin Yeung, classified as pro-democracy camp. At the time, Christine Fong received 33,424 votes, while Wong Singh-chi received 17,257 votes; in

New Territories The New Territories (N.T., Traditional Chinese characters, Chinese: ) is one of the three areas of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of H ...

, the centrist camp received about 12%. Third Side chairman Tik Chi-yuen claims that voters abandoned the centrist line and voted for a pro-Beijing camp because of the 'Returning to the Edge Effect' (歸邊效應) in the election. He analyzed that the centrist camp is likely to win 1 seat in the New Territories if it works with centrist politicians at the

2016 Hong Kong legislative election The 2016 Hong Kong Legislative Council election was held on 4 September 2016 for the 6th Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo). A total of 70 members, 35 from geographical constituency, geographical constituencies (GCs) and 35 from functional ...

. In the 2016 Hong Kong legislative election; Wong Singh-chi bolted from the Third Side and ran for the Social Welfare functional constitution, Tik Chi-yuen ran for the Kowloon West, Christine Fong was eliminated from 10th place with 34,544 votes in the eastern district of New Territories, the Path of Democracy sent two lists to Hong Kong Island and the eastern part of the New Territories and losing with 10,028 and 8,084 votes (respectively, which was a very small number of votes, resulting in the confiscation of the

election deposit In an electoral system, a deposit is the sum of money that a candidate for an elected office, such as a seat in a legislature, is required to pay to an electoral authority before they are permitted to stand for election. Typically, the deposit co ...

). In the

2021 Hong Kong legislative election The 2021 Hong Kong Legislative Council election was a general election held on 19 December 2021 for the 7th Legislative Council of Hong Kong. Under the drastic 2021 Hong Kong electoral changes, Beijing-imposed electoral overhaul, the composition ...

, the only centrist candidate elected was

Tik Chi-yuen Tik Chi-yuen () is a member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council and of North District Council. He is a registered social worker and chairman of the small centrist Third Side party, which he co-founded in 2015, after quitting the Democratic Par ...

Political organizations

Current

* Path of Democracy (2015–present) *

(2016–present) * (2022–present) The

Roundtable The Round Table (; ; ; ) is King Arthur's famed table (furniture), table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status, unlike co ...

is not part of the centrist camp but has a moderate view among the pro-Beijing camp parties and is friendly to the centrists.

Former

* Hope for Hong Kong (2020–2021) * Professional Power (2010–present), is widely considered as part of the pro-Beijing camp as Connie Lam said she will "support it with all her heart and soul" on the second reading of Article 23 of the Basic Law in the Legislative Council.

Macau

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

, there are two political parties that are part of the centrist camp, Synergy of Macao and Macao Civic Power.

References