Hong Kong accused the US yesterday of interfering in China's internal affairs by voicing support for electoral reform in the southern city as Beijing began reviewing Hong Kong's mini-constitution.
"Hong Kong's constitutional development is part of the internal affairs of our country ... The US government should respect this position and should not interfere," a government spokesman said in a statement.
The rebuke came after Washington voiced serious concern over Beijing's decision to press ahead with re-interpreting Hong Kong's Basic Law despite a lack of consultation with local citizens on the controversial issue of universal suffrage.
"We are seriously concerned that Beijing has decided to issue an interpretation of the Basic Law on this important issue before Hong Kong people have fully aired the issues," the State Department said in a statement on Friday.
The statement, on the department's Web site, said Washington "strongly supports" the Hong Kong people's desire for democracy, electoral reform and universal suffrage. "It is important that the people of Hong Kong be permitted to determine the pace and scope of constitutional developments," it said.
Critics said the Beijing review was aimed at stifling Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement and would erode the high degree of autonomy the former British colony was promised when China took it back in 1997.
Top officials of China's parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC), joined by a handful of Hong Kong delegates, split into small groups yesterday to discuss re-interpretations of two clauses in the Basic Law that set out how its chief executive and lawmakers are chosen.
Tsang Tak-sing, a Hong Kong member of the NPC who is attending the Beijing meetings, said after the discussions all members in his group were in favor of a review on the Basic Law.
"About 20 representatives voiced their opinions. They think the revision's draft is in line with the meanings of the Annexes, that it was very accurate. They say it's not an amendment nor a supplement but a legal explanation and it would help understanding [in the clauses]," Tsang told Hong Kong reporters in Beijing.
He said delegates had been handed two documents summarizing views of different groups in Hong Kong.
One was submitted by the constitutional development task force headed by Hong Kong Chief Secretary Donald Tsang, whose group was tasked with collating Hong Kong people's views on the pace of reform. Tsang Tak-sing said the document contained comments that voiced concerns on the reinterpretation.
The other document was collected by Qiao Xiaoyang, deputy secretary-general of the NPC's Standing Committee, when he met earlier this week with prominent Hong Kong figures appointed to the parliament and to a national political consultative body.
Top NPC officials are expected to vote on the final draft on Tuesday.
Friday's US statement came after veteran Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmaker Martin Lee paid a controversial visit to Washington in March to argue that Hong Kong should have direct elections for its leaders and legislature from 2007. Pro-Chinese figures branded him a "traitor" for the visit.
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