A top Chinese official accused Britain of introducing democracy near the end of its colonial rule in Hong Kong to deliberately stir up conflict with Beijing and preserve British interests in the territory, local media reported yesterday.
"Western colonists are used to speeding up Western-style democracy to provoke political conflict and to polarize society after leaving the place," Wang Rudeng (
"During such chaos, they can nurture their agents to maintain their influence as a sovereign power, so that they can keep their hands on it," Wang said.
A British Consulate-General spokesman called Wang's comments "complete nonsense."
Britain introduced democratic reforms in Hong Kong only toward the end of its rule. The last 60-member colonial legislature had just 20 elected seats.
After Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997, Beijing replaced the partly-elected legislature with a temporary body stacked with its allies.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa (
But Beijing has gradually allowed the general public to elect more lawmakers. In the last election, 24 of 60 legislative seats were chosen by the public, while the rest were picked by special interest groups and the committee that picked Tung. In September elections, the general public will select representatives for 30 seats.
Hong Kong's mini-constitution sets full democracy as an eventual goal, but calls for gradual reform and provides no timetable.
Earlier this month, China refused to allow direct elections for Hong Kong's leader in 2007 and the territory's entire legislature in 2008 -- a move that quashed popular hopes for democratic reform and drew condemnation from both the US and Britain.
Beijing says a rush to democracy will endanger stability and economic growth.
When asked if Britain's proxies in Hong Kong included vocal China critic and pro-democracy lawmaker Martin Lee (
But Lee denied he was a British proxy.
"How can I be one when I'm democratically elected?" he said.
Lee said Wang was referring to people who were appointed by the colonial government who have remained active in Hong Kong politics since 1997.
Wang's office referred inquiries to the Hong Kong office of China's foreign ministry, which did not immediately respond to a query.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
CONFLICTING REPORTS: Beijing said it was ‘not familiar with the matter’ when asked if Chinese jets were used in the conflict, after Pakistan’s foreign minister said they were The Pakistan Army yesterday said it shot down 25 Indian drones, a day after the worst violence between the nuclear-armed rivals in two decades. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to retaliate after India launched deadly missile strikes on Wednesday morning, escalating days of gunfire along their border. At least 45 deaths were reported from both sides following Wednesday’s violence, including children. Pakistan’s military said in a statement yesterday that it had “so far shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones” at multiple location across the country. “Last night, India showed another act of aggression by sending drones to multiple locations,” Pakistan military spokesman Ahmed
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
RSS