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.
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
A global survey showed that 60 percent of Taiwanese had attained higher education, second only to Canada, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan easily surpassed the global average of 43 percent and ranked ahead of major economies, including Japan, South Korea and the US, data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for 2024 showed. Taiwan has a high literacy rate, data released by the ministry showed. As of the end of last year, Taiwan had 20.617 million people aged 15 or older, accounting for 88.5 percent of the total population, with a literacy rate of 99.4 percent, the data
CCP ‘PAWN’? Beijing could use the KMT chairwoman’s visit to signal to the world that many people in Taiwan support the ‘one China’ principle, an academic said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday arrived in China for a “peace” mission and potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), while a Taiwanese minister detailed the number of Chinese warships currently deployed around the nation. Cheng is visiting at a time of increased Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, as the opposition-dominated Legislative Yuan stalls a government plan for US$40 billion in extra defense spending. Speaking to reporters before going to the airport, Cheng said she was going on a “historic journey for peace,” but added that some people felt uneasy about her trip. “If you truly love Taiwan,
NEW LOW: The council in 2024 based predictions on a pessimistic estimate for the nation’s total fertility rate of 0.84, but last year that rate was 0.69, 17 percent lower An expected National Development Council (NDC) report expects the nation’s population to drop below 12 million by 2065, with the old-age dependency ratio to top 100 percent sooner than 2070, sources said yesterday. The council is slated to release its latest population projections in August, using an ultra-low fertility model, the sources said. The previous report projected that Taiwan’s population would fall to 14.37 million by 2070, but based on a new estimate of the total fertility rate (TFR) — the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime — the population is expected to reach 12 million by
RSS