Pro-democracy activists marched to China's representative office in the territory yesterday, demanding universal suffrage and accusing Hong Kong's leader of blocking reform.
"Hong Kong is ready and mature enough for direct elections," said Clare Lee, a 29-year-old organizer with the opposition Democratic Party.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Hong Kong's mini-constitution, the Basic Law, holds out the possibility that ordinary residents can elect their next leader in 2007 and all lawmakers by 2008.
But the protesters fear Beijing won't let that happen, and they accuse unpopular Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa (董建華) of blindly backing the central government and thwarting the will of the people.
"He's killing the rights the Hong Kong people should have," said Tam Wai-to, a 44-year-old union leader.
Rally organizers said 200 people joined yesterday's march that started at Hong Kong government headquarters and then headed to the Chinese government's liaison office in the afternoon. Police declined to provide a crowd estimate.
"Fight for democracy," the protesters chanted.
Although Hong Kong people are clamoring for full democracy, Beijing and Tung have indicated they want any progress to come gradually. Critics call that a stalling tactic.
China's most powerful legislative panel, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, ruled earlier this month that Beijing would have to give advance approval for any political changes.
The committee is expected to issue another decision on Monday that critics fear will rule out direct elections for Tung's successor in 2007. Tung was chosen by an 800-strong committee that sides with Beijing.
Tung has weighed in by recommending that Hong Kong change its electoral policies. But he suggested a stringent list of conditions -- including taking Beijing's views into consideration -- that critics say will effectively stop the push for full democracy.
Ordinary citizens get to directly elect some lawmakers, however, and the number rises to 30 out of 60 this September, up from just 24 in the 2000 elections.
A pro-democracy lawmaker said yesterday that Hong Kong's government believes the possibility of direct elections in 2007 and 2008 will be ruled out by Beijing today.
The lawmaker spoke only on condition of anonymity and declined to identify the government official who made that prediction.
Tsang Hin-chi (曾憲梓), a Hong Kong resident and member of the Chinese legislative panel, defended Tung's suggestions on reform. Speaking in Beijing, he said yesterday that Tung's views were based on public consultations in Hong Kong.
‘CHILD PORNOGRAPHY’: The doll on Shein’s Web site measure about 80cm in height, and it was holding a teddy bear in a photo published by a daily newspaper France’s anti-fraud unit on Saturday said it had reported Asian e-commerce giant Shein (希音) for selling what it described as “sex dolls with a childlike appearance.” The French Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) said in a statement that the “description and categorization” of the items on Shein’s Web site “make it difficult to doubt the child pornography nature of the content.” Shortly after the statement, Shein announced that the dolls in question had been withdrawn from its platform and that it had launched an internal inquiry. On its Web site, Le Parisien daily published a
China’s Shenzhou-20 crewed spacecraft has delayed its return mission to Earth after the vessel was possibly hit by tiny bits of space debris, the country’s human spaceflight agency said yesterday, an unusual situation that could disrupt the operation of the country’s space station Tiangong. An impact analysis and risk assessment are underway, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said in a statement, without providing a new schedule for the return mission, which was originally set to land in northern China yesterday. The delay highlights the danger to space travel posed by increasing amounts of debris, such as discarded launch vehicles or vessel
RUBBER STAMP? The latest legislative session was the most productive in the number of bills passed, but critics attributed it to a lack of dissenting voices On their last day at work, Hong Kong’s lawmakers — the first batch chosen under Beijing’s mantra of “patriots administering Hong Kong” — posed for group pictures, celebrating a job well done after four years of opposition-free politics. However, despite their smiles, about one-third of the Legislative Council will not seek another term in next month’s election, with the self-described non-establishment figure Tik Chi-yuen (狄志遠) being among those bowing out. “It used to be that [the legislature] had the benefit of free expression... Now it is more uniform. There are multiple voices, but they are not diverse enough,” Tik said, comparing it
Prime ministers, presidents and royalty on Saturday descended on Cairo to attend the spectacle-laden inauguration of a sprawling new museum built near the pyramids to house one of the world’s richest collections of antiquities. The inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum, or GEM, marks the end of a two-decade construction effort hampered by the Arab Spring uprisings, the COVID-19 pandemic and wars in neighboring countries. “We’ve all dreamed of this project and whether it would really come true,” Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly told a news conference, calling the museum a “gift from Egypt to the whole world from a
RSS