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China's gifts to Hong Kong do little to quell frustration

Chinese leaders are expected to descend on Hong Kong next week bearing gifts worth billions of dollars to support its ailing economy, but they are unlikely to be welcomed with open arms.

Instead, critics of the city's Beijing-backed government say up to 100,000 people will use next Tuesday's sixth anniversary of the return of the former British colony to China to air their grievances on the streets.

If the organizers' predictions prove correct, the protests will be the biggest in the city in the years since it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

"It is a boiling pot that will explode sooner or later. The question is whether Beijing or the Hong Kong government will do something to cool it down," University of Hong Kong politics lecturer Sonny Lo told reporters.

Hong Kong newspapers that are close to Beijing say Premier Wen Jiabao and other senior officials will be in town for the anniversary and the signing on Monday of a free-trade deal between Hong Kong, which enjoys special administrative status, and China.

The immediate target of Tuesday's protests is an anti-subversion law planned by the Hong Kong government and denounced by critics as a threat to freedoms in the city.

But critics of the Hong Kong government also accuse it of failing to stem years of economic weakness and of a string of policy blunders, including its initial handling of the flu-like SARS epidemic, which killed almost 300 people and terrorized the city for more than three months.

Widely seen as a gift from China, the free-trade deal seeks to bolster the financial center's once-vaunted business confidence as its economy teeters on the brink of its third recession in six years.

The deal is expected to eliminate tariffs on thousands of Hong Kong goods, saving local firms billions of dollars a year. Benefits for China's booming economy will be marginal.

Many commentators question the timing, just weeks before the government wants its anti-subversion legislation passed into law.

"It is designed to appease the angry populace, but the working class will not be happy. There are no immediate benefits and only a few in business will benefit," Lo said.

Under the new law, people convicted of treason or subversion can be jailed for life and the state can hold closed-door trials. Rights groups say it could be used to jail anyone critical of Chinese or Hong Kong leaders.

World opposition to the bill is growing. The US last week stressed that Hong Kong's special status as part of China depended on the protection of human and civil rights.

The government argues the bill will be among the most liberal national security laws in the world. It has rejected pleas for more consultation and refused to release a full draft for public debate, saying ordinary people wouldn't understand it.

"The government likes to tell the world that most Hong Kong people accept this law, but we will be out there to tell them that is absolutely not true," said Laura Tang, who will be marching in her first protest on July 1.

Hong Kong must approve the law under its constitution, agreed by Britain and China before the handover, but the draft gives no timetable. Beijing has been pressing Hong Kong to enact it, fearing the city may be used as a base for subversive activities.

The government's refusal to allow more public consultation and widespread anger about its inability to revive the economy have sparked calls for greater democratization in the territory.

Hong Kong's constitution also provides for eventual universal suffrage, but the government has refused to discuss a timetable for a public debate on this. Such amendments would require majority approval from the legislature, which is packed with pro-Beijing lawmakers.

"Most people out there at the protest will be unhappy with [Hong Kong leader] Tung Chee-hwa (董建華)," said political commentator Andy Ho.

Lecturer Lo said that by asking for concessions like the trade pact, Hong Kong was speeding up its integration with China and making itself more beholden to the central government.

"Hong Kong people see it as a trade-off," Lo said. "Hong Kong has become increasingly economically dependent on [China] and its political autonomy has been crushed."
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