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Tung to recommend changes on how HK leaders are selected

As thousands of Hong Kong people clamor for full democracy, the territory's leader will make a recommendation to Beijing on whether ordinary voters should have more say in who governs them, officials said yesterday.

One TV station reported Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa (董建華) has suggested changes should be made before Hong Kong selects its next leader in 2007 and its Legislative Council in 2008, but that he's stopped short of offering many specifics. The TVB report cited no sources.

Ordinary Hong Kong people now have no say in choosing their leader, who was picked by an 800-member committee loyal to Beijing, although the voters directly elect some lawmakers.

Pro-democracy lawmakers accused Tung of acting without adequately consulting the public.

"He's operating inside a black box," said Legislator Fred Li (李華明) from the opposition Democratic Party. "He pays no respect to the views of the Hong Kong people."

Beijing stepped into the controversy last week with a ruling from China's most powerful legislative committee that any electoral reforms in Hong Kong would require advance approval from the central government.

Critics charged that China was arbitrarily rewriting Hong Kong constitutional law to thwart the territory's democratic aspirations. A crowd estimated at up to 20,000 people marched in protest to Beijing's local representative office on Sunday.

The government declined comment on Tung's proposals. But officials said Tung would meet with journalists late in the day, after his constitutional affairs secretary, Stephen Lam (林瑞麟), presents the recommendations to a top official in Beijing.

Under Hong Kong's partially democratic system, voters will be allowed to directly elect 30 of their 60 legislators in September, up from just 24 four years ago. The rest are picked by special interest groups that tend to side with Beijing.
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