The Hong Kong National Party was a localist political party in Hong Kong. It was the first political party in Hong Kong to advocate for Hong Kong independence. The Hong Kong National Party is also the first political party to be outlawed since Hong Kong's 1997 handover to China. In the 2016 Hong Kong legislative election, the HKNP's convenor Chan Ho-tin was barred from standing due to his pro-independence stance for Hong Kong. Chan was among the first individual barred from participating in the election along with five other pro-independence activists. The Hong Kong SAR government states that Hong Kong independence contravenes the principle of "one country, two systems" and Article 1 and 12 of the Basic Law, which stipulates that Hong Kong is a SAR of the People's Republic of China. On 24 September 2018, the Hong Kong SAR government officially declared HKNP to be an illegal society and banned the operation of HKNP on national security grounds under the Societies Ordinance. Platform The Hong Kong National Party states that it wants to establish Hong Kong as "a self-reliant nation. An independent Hong Kong" as the party's goal. The party lays out six policies on their platform: build an independent and free Republic of Hong Kong; defend the interests of Hong Kongers and maintain such interests as fundamental; consolidate the national consciousness of the Hong Kong nation to define Hong Kong citizenship; support and participate in all effective actions of resistance; abolish the Hong Kong Basic Law and let Hong Kongers make their own Constitution; and construct influential powers which support the independence of Hong Kong, and establish Hong-Kong-oriented organisations and pressure groups in various fields such as economics, culture, and education, so as to found the powers for independence. The ultimate goals of the party as it claims are to end the Chinese rule in Hong Kong and build an independent and autonomous Republic of Hong Kong. The party said it would use "whatever effective means" to push for independence, including fielding candidates in the 2016 Legislative Council election. Founding The Hong Kong National Party was established on 28 March 2016 by members consisting of mostly active university students, also some fresh graduates who have been working for a few years and professionals who were mostly in their 20s. The party was convened by Chan Ho-tin, a Hong Kong Polytechnic University student who participated in the protests of