The parliament would meet online with elected MPs scattered among the Hong Kong diaspora and a headquarters possibly based in London.
More than 160,000 Hong Kongers escaped to the UK since the Beijing-imposed national security law was brought in three years ago.
Entrepreneur Elmer Yuen, 74, the initiator of the parliament, who was among eight pro-democracy figures with a HK$1m (£100,000) bounty placed on them last month by Hong Kong police, said the parliament aimed to “take down the communists and regain freedom for Hong Kong”.
Responding to a question from i, he told the London launch event: “We think within two to three years, maybe even earlier, the Chinese Communist Party regime will collapse.
“We’re not trying to take over China. We are trying to take back Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong parliament will be the representative organisation.
“The government comes from the parliament [and] will be taking back the control and the sovereignty of Hong Kong. This is the objective. When the communists collapse, they will go back to Hong Kong.”
Police bounties on oveseas activists have inreased risk, campaigner says
Bounties being offered for the arrests of eight Hong Kong pro-democracy activists had increased the risk to dissidents of being targeted by the CCP abroad, a leading campaigner believes.
Simon Cheng said the bounties offered by Hong Kong’s police, who accuse the activists of breaking the national security law by colluding with foreign powers, was triple that offered by the force to catch murderers.
Mr Cheng was not among the list released last month, which includes three UK-based activists, but has been targeted by suspected pro-CCP informers while in Britain.
In 2021, the Metropolitan Police launched an investigation after a £10,000 bounty was offered on WeChat for the addresses of Mr Cheng, a former worker at the British consulate in Hong Kong.
“I think definitely after the bounty it exacerbates the whole matter. I think it encouraged private actors to be informants,” Mr Cheng told i.
Simon Cheng, 32, a prominent activist, discovered a £10k bounty had been offered for his address in 2021, sparking a police investigation (Photo: Supplied)
“They could use it lots of ways. I think the most stupid way would be to make you feel you’ve been following and it might be psychological warfare. Because they could easily get more accurate information using a much more covert manner.
“Sooner or later the informants that were here will be discovered by the police.
“I think people would say you’re not on the bounty list now. Maybe you’re safer, but actually I don’t think so.”
“They are the best in terms of infiltration,” said Mr Yuen of the CCP.
“Lots of people were bought, Members of Parliament. Even your schools and your universities. Very much paid and influenced.”
Public figures, possibly including British MPs, will be invited to sit on the parliament’s election commission in August, with roughly 100 candidates based outside Hong Kong to stand for 30 to 40 MPs seats.
While it would not be able to implement laws for Hong Kong, the exiled parliament will lobby for international recognition and hopes to be placed to move into power in the event of a CCP collapse.
It hopes around a million exiled Hong Kongers will vote from an estimated diaspora of four million.
Voting is expected to be lower among Hong Kong’s population of seven million due to fears among the electorate of being targeted by the CCP, with initial estimates that around 1 per cent will cast their ballots initially.
One of those targeted, Simon Cheng, 32, a former British consulate officer who was granted asylum in the UK after claiming he was tortured under arrest in China, is among exiled activists hoping to stand in the new parliament.
“We focus more on the process rather than the result. Definitely the people will question: ‘what will the real power of the Hong Kong Parliament be?’” he said.
“I would say even symbolic meaning would be important. Maybe one day when history changes, maybe international relations, or international power structures have to change and we could become a constructive power with an experience of governance and political debates.
“We could fill in the vacuum of power and Hong Kong could be liberated. We need to prepare for this, otherwise the people will say, ‘there’s going to be chaos because there’s no alternative way to replace authoritarianism’.”
Mr Yuen, who escaped to the USA in 2020 and now travels the world to advocate for the Hong Kong democracy movement, said last week members of his family were detained.
“They took my kids, my eldest daughter, my oldest son and his wife for maybe five to eight hours for questioning,” he said.
“Hong Kong freedom is a much more serious matter than my personal world, or my personal freedom, or my family’s freedom or safety. I know what I’m risking.”
A referendum will be held to decide on a constitution for the parliament, with elections to be held every four years.
Mr Yuen said the UK was “probably the most important country” whose support the parliament’s organisers are hoping to gain.
“They’re not ready to support us because the UK government policy is not ready yet,” he said.
“As far as we’re concerned. We had to do it asap. Because otherwise as time goes by the memory of Hong Kong fades.
“We are going to go ahead with or without UK or US government sanction.”
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