Warning that a radical shift to full democracy could destabilize Hong Kong, Asia's richest tycoon said electoral changes must be gradual to avert problems in the financial hub.
"It's best for the process of political reforms to be peaceful," billionaire Li Ka-shing (
Many people are clamoring for full democracy in this former British colony that returned to China in July 1997. They are demanding the direct election of their leader by 2007 and all lawmakers by 2008, but Beijing insists that any change must go slowly.
Li holds enormous sway in Hong Kong. He urged Hong Kong people not to "ruin" the territory's prosperity by rushing toward full democracy, according to the remarks published prominently in the Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao newspapers.
"Hong Kong can't take it," ran Ta Kung Pao's front-page headline in bold, red letters.
Asked what would happen if Hong Kong went ahead with the implementation of direct elections in 2007 and 2008, Li said: "We don't know what results it would bring, but it's something we can't afford."
Ordinary citizens now have no say in picking their political leader, although they will choose 30 of the 60 lawmakers in September, up from just 24 four years ago. The Beijing and Hong Kong governments are worried about ending up with a legislature that won't back Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa's (
China's top legislative committee issued a ruling this month that any political reforms would require advance approval by Beijing.
Tung, chosen by an elite 800-person committee loyal to Beijing, angered the public on Thursday by sending a recommendation to the central government on the matter without reflecting on the people's aspirations for democracy.
He suggested in his report that Hong Kong's electoral systems should be reformed before his current term expires, but spelled out nine guidelines that his opponents claim effectively kill any hopes for quick democracy.
A top mainland legal expert said Beijing might dictate more rules that Hong Kong must follow on political reforms when it deliberates on Tung's report, the South China Morning Post reported.
"The central government has the power to decide the development of Hong Kong's political system," Wang Zhenmin (
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
At a calligraphy class in Hanoi, Hoang Thi Thanh Huyen slides her brush across the page to form the letters and tonal marks of Vietnam’s unique modern script, in part a legacy of French colonial rule. The history of romanized Vietnamese, or Quoc Ngu, links the arrival of the first Christian missionaries, colonization by the French and the rise to power of the Communist Party of Vietnam. It is now reflected in the country’s “bamboo diplomacy” approach of seeking strength through flexibility, or looking to stay on good terms with the world’s major powers. A month after Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) visited,
RSS