Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (
Wen told Hong Kong media while attending the ASEAN meeting on Bali that he was also happy to see the territory's economy heading toward recovery.
PHOTO: REUTERS
"Hong Kong has a bright future as long as we are united," he said, adding he was "full of confidence" in the territory.
Wen also reiterated the central government's "firm belief" that the people of Hong Kong could rule the region better under the "one country, two systems" policy which has allowed it to retain high autonomy since its 1997 handover from British rule.
However, Wen said Hong Kong must "go through gradual democratization" so that the basic rights of the people guaranteed under the Basic Law, Hong Kong's mini constitution, could be safeguarded.
An unprecedented protest by 500,000 people on July 1 against a proposed national security bill threw Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa's (董建華) government into its worst political crisis since 1997. The political fallout forced Tung last month to scrap the bill indefinitely.
Tung, meanwhile, yesterday survived a motion calling for his resignation for not introducing democratic reforms -- the third no-confidence motion against his administration this year.
Pro-government legislators defeated the motion by 31 votes to 21 in the Legislative Council.
It said there had been "retrogression in human rights, the rule of law and economic development in Hong Kong" under Tung.
It also said the "democratization of the political system has remained stagnant" under Tung, prompting repeated public demands for him to step down.
Analysts had believed the motion had little chance of being passed, but it sparked strong debate for and against Tung in the lawmaking body's first meeting of the new legislative year.
It was moved by pro-democracy legislator Emily Lau, head of the Frontier alliance of pro-democratic legislators.
Lau said Tung had not adhered to wishes of the people for him to step down after he was forced to shelve indefinitely the security bill.
Before yesterday's vote several groups, including the Frontier alliance and radical April Fifth Movement, staged noisy protests outside the legislature calling for Tung to step down and demanding universal suffrage to elect the next chief executive.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
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Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
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