Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (
Wen's remark came one day after President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) was quoted in state media as saying the "one country, two systems" formula for Hong Kong, coined by late patriarch Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平), should be reviewed.
"Both [Hu and Wen] have said that [we need] to study once more what Deng Xiaoping said 20 years ago about `one country, two systems,' how it should work," Tung told a briefing yesterday.
"It is very, very helpful to realize the thought process behind what `one country, two systems' is all about, and therefore it will be very helpful for the constitutional development in Hong Kong in the future," he said.
Hu made the reference to the "one country, two systems" formula while meeting Tung on Saturday on the sidelines of the annual full meeting of the 3,000-member National People's Congress (NPC), China's parliament.
"It is necessary to review Deng Xiaoping's theory on `one country, two systems,' which is still playing a significant role in guiding practice," Hu was quoted by the Xinhua news agency as telling Tung.
According to the "one country, two systems" principle, the people of Hong Kong are to be allowed a great deal of autonomy while leaving only foreign policy and defense to the government in Beijing.
The principle has been at the heart of heated arguments in Hong Kong, with many people in the city worried that China wants to impose a greater degree of control.
Xinhua suggested Hu welcomed more debate on what exactly "one country, two systems" should mean for Hong Kong, reporting that he spoke "highly" of the "positive discussion on the principle."
"Both [Hu and Wen] welcome a calm and reasonable discussion of this particular subject," Tung said at the briefing.
Xinhua did not make clear in its report what Hu meant by "reviewing" the "one country, two systems" formula, which was originally phrased in order to find a system that could lure Taiwan to reattach itself to China.
Hu also said the Chinese government would continue to support the Hong Kong government's work in line with the Basic Law, its mini-constitution, and help Hong Kong in its economic recovery.
Even as Hu struck a conciliatory note in his talks with Tung, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing (
"Hong Kong is China's Hong Kong," Li told a press conference arranged on the second day of the NPC meeting.
Hong Kong's democrats and mainland China are embroiled in a row over political reform.
Democrats want universal suffrage in the former British colony by 2007, but Beijing is hoping to delay any decision on reform.
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
‘COMING MENACINGLY’: The CDC advised wearing a mask when visiting hospitals or long-term care centers, on public transportation and in crowded indoor venues Hospital visits for COVID-19 last week increased by 113 percent to 41,402, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, as it encouraged people to wear a mask in three public settings to prevent infection. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said weekly hospital visits for COVID-19 have been increasing for seven consecutive weeks, and 102 severe COVID-19 cases and 19 deaths were confirmed last week, both the highest weekly numbers this year. CDC physician Lee Tsung-han (李宗翰) said the youngest person hospitalized due to the disease this year was reported last week, a one-month-old baby, who does not
RSS