Thousands marched in Hong Kong yesterday to demand a greater say in how their leaders will be chosen, expressing fears that China will limit long-awaited political reforms.
“Democracy will prevail” read some banners as protesters sang and shouted slogans against the government of the semi-autonomous Chinese territory, less than one month after the start of an official public consultation on a future electoral system.
“Because we are Hong Kong citizens, we must vote,” said Sharon Tang, a trading company employee, adding that residents of the former British colony have the intelligence to choose their leaders.
China, which took back Hong Kong in 1997, has promised that its people will be able to vote in 2017 for their next chief executive.
Currently the territory’s leader is elected by a 1,200-strong pro-Beijing committee.
However, many fear that China will control the choice of candidates to secure the election of a sympathetic official.
“Hong Kong people have been on the streets over the years to strive for what we deserve, and what the Chinese government has not given us,” Charles Tam, 25, said.
The marchers left Victoria Park — named after the 19th-century British monarch who oversaw Hong Kong’s seizure from China — in mid-afternoon and were to stage a rally in the Central financial district afterward.
A poster depicting Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying (梁振英) with an egg plastered on his head was hung over the park lawn.
Organizers said more than 50,000 people were expected to take part in the annual protest, but turnout appeared lower than in some previous years.
Marchers aim to let the Hong Kong government and the Chinese Communist Party know “that Hong Kong people need and want real democracy,” said Johnson Yeung, convenor of rally organizers the Civil Human Rights Front.
Other issues, such as calls for more labor rights and better urban planning, were also raised.
Hong Kong has its own government and legal system, and its residents enjoy rights and freedoms unknown to Chinese.
However, there are frequent protests in the city of 7 million over slow progress toward full democracy, and discontent is also growing over sky-high housing prices and a growing wealth gap.
Mimicking the Occupy protests of 2011 in cities such as New York and London, some activists have threatened to take over the streets of Hong Kong’s business district later this year to try to force officials to guarantee a fair electoral system.
A “New Year Civil Referendum” was also conducted in Victoria Park and over the Internet yesterday, and drew about 55,000 voters by late afternoon.
The poll asked Hong Kong people their preference on how candidates for the leadership post should be chosen.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique