Hong Kong’s coming Legislative Council election has seen a significant increase in candidates linked to mainland Chinese enterprises, with at least 49 – almost a third of the total – affiliated with such firms, up 50 per cent from 2021.

The higher proportion reflected the growing prominence of mainland capital in Hong Kong’s economy and Beijing’s push for Legco to drive the city’s integration into national development, a political scholar said.

A check by the Post found that among the 161 candidates who signed up for the December 7 poll, at least 49 – or 30.4 per cent – hold positions or serve as independent directors in mainland enterprises.

Nineteen of them are contesting in the functional constituencies, 18 in the Election Committee constituency and 12 in directly elected geographical constituencies.

Of these candidates, all but five have ties to state-owned enterprises.

The figure marked a significant increase from the 2021 election, when about 20 per cent of 153 candidates had mainland business connections.