Hong Kong's likely new leader believes an anti-subversion bill shelved after a massive protest can be revived and toughened, his spokesman said yesterday, igniting fears in the Chinese territory that Western-style freedoms may be in jeopardy.
Donald Tsang (曾蔭權) said the proposed national security legislation in 2003 outlawing sedition, treason and other crimes against the state -- which half a million people protested as too draconian -- wasn't strict enough, his spokesman Harold Yau said.
"He did feel that the way it was drafted at the moment ... it may not achieve the purpose for what it was intended, so he has to look at it. He did say that it could be tightened," Yau told reporters by phone.
Tsang doesn't have a timetable for reintroducing a new anti-subversion bill, Yau said.
rising concerns
The comments by Tsang, widely believed to be China's choice to lead Hong Kong, raised fears about freedoms promised in this former British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Activist Richard Tsoi (蔡耀昌), who helped organize a 500,000-strong protest against the original anti-subversion bill, said any new legislation along those lines would be unpopular.
"Hong Kong citizens strongly oppose and question that version of the bill," Tsoi said. "The core of the legislation has a serious negative impact on Hong Kong's freedom and human rights."
Tsang, formerly Hong Kong's No. 2 official, is expected to easily win a vote on July 10 by an 800-member leader selection committee that tends to side with China.
Pro-democracy legislator Cheng Kar-foo said Tsang is closely toeing China's line to guarantee his election. Beijing's allies in Hong Kong are believed to be skeptical of Tsang's loyalty to China because he served in Hong Kong's British colonial administration and was knighted for his service.
"If he says anything wrong during this time period, who knows?" said Cheng.
less blood
Tsang also said he wants to get rid of bloody pictures posted in public by the spiritual group Falun Gong allegedly showing the abuse of its members by the Chinese government.
"He's going to look at it and see if he can get things like that removed from the popular tourist spots," Yau said.
Falun Gong, which combines slow-motion exercise with Buddhist and Taoist beliefs, is banned in China but allowed in Hong Kong.
A Falun Gong spokeswoman defended the group.
"From our point of view, we've done nothing wrong but to let the ... mainland Chinese know what's going on there, to let them be aware of such atrocities happening there," Sophie Xiao said.
Beijing has arrested thousands of Falun Gong followers in China. The group alleges many have been tortured and in some cases murdered.
RSS