Besieged by growing calls for more democracy and high unemployment, Hong Kong's deeply unpopular leader pledged yesterday to forge tighter economic links with China but ducked calls for faster political reforms.
Ignoring demands by pro-democracy activists to speed up changes, Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa (董建華) said his government would have to consult Beijing first before addressing mounting demands for more voting rights.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Tung's comments were the clearest confirmation yet that he would not make a move on more democracy without getting explicit instructions from Beijing, and likely set the stage for more confrontations with an increasingly demanding population.
Democracy activists had warned they would stage more massive street protests if Tung didn't commit to faster reforms in his speech.
Hong Kong's constitution, the Basic Law, gives the city a high degree of autonomy under Chinese rule. But it also stipulates that Beijing has the final say over any major electoral changes in the former British colony it took back in 1997.
China's leaders are clearly worried that calls for more democracy in Hong Kong will spark similar demands in China.
Nearly 100,000 people marched to demand full democracy on New Year's Day in the biggest protest since half a million people took to the streets last July, shocking Tung and leaders in Beijing, who said they worried about the stability of the Asian financial powerhouse.
"I have decided to establish a task force ... to seriously examine these issues, particularly those concerning the understanding of the relevant provisions of the Basic Law and to consult relevant authorities of the central people's government," Tung said in his annual policy speech.
As he spoke to lawmakers, hundreds of people gathered outside the legislature shouting "Tung Chee-hwa resign" and demanding the right to elect their own leader and all of their legislators.
Tung, who was selected by China to run the city after the handover, devoted most of his speech to reminding Hong Kong people that their fortunes were becoming increasingly tied to China's.
He forecast that the city's gross domestic product would quadruple from US$1 trillion in 2000 to US$4 trillion by 2020 as the Chinese economy boomed.
Hong Kong has traditionally been a gateway for goods from China to the rest of the world, and a key entry point into China for foreign investors. Growing world demand for cheap Chinese goods helped pull Hong Kong's economy out of recession last year.
China's leaders hoped that political discontent would begin to evaporate as the economy improved but Tung has become so deeply unpopular that demands for more democracy have continued to grow.
He offered no major new initiatives to spur economic growth in his policy address but announced some temporary job creation measures.
"We expect to see sustained economic growth and a continued decline in unemployment this year," Tung said.
He also said the government's huge fiscal deficit remained a serious problem that needed to be resolved.
The government has forecast the deficit is on course to hit a record HK$78 billion (US$10 billion) in the fiscal year ending March.
Tung raised the possibility of new taxes and higher government fees but said the government did not want to endanger people's livelihoods.
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