Clamping down further on Hong Kong's autonomy, Beijing warned the territory's Legislative Council (Legco) yesterday that it had no right to criticize the central government's decision to rule out full democracy in the near future.
The state-run Xinhua news agency quoted a top official with China's liaison office in Hong Kong as saying local lawmakers would be acting unconstitutionally if they consider any motions that express "discontent with" or "condemn" China's ruling on democratic reform.
The Chinese official quoted by Xinhua, who was not identified by name, said Legco must hold its fire against the democracy ruling.
"The moves are against the Constitution and the Hong Kong Basic Law," Xinhua quoted the official as saying. "They do not accord with the Legco's constitutional status as a local legislature and go beyond the limit of its duty and authority."
The official called the ruling against full democracy "lawful, rational, reasonable and just," and said Legco has no right to attack the top Chinese organ that issued it, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.
Elsewhere, Standing Committee Vice-Chairman Cheng Siwei (
"This is clearly unpatriotic and goes against the central government," Cheng was quoted by the Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao as telling the students during a school visit on Friday.
Cheng also branded the democracy advocates "bananas" -- yellow-skinned Chinese on the outside but with Western beliefs inside.
"These people, who badmouth China and Hong Kong, are sinners of the Chinese nation," Cheng was quoted as saying. "They are just like bananas, yellow outside but white inside."
The statement came shortly after Hong Kong Legislative Council (Legco) President Rita Fan (
Pro-democracy forces charge that Beijing unilaterally rewrote the territory's mini-constitution, the Basic Law, when it ruled out direct elections of Hong Kong's next leader in 2007 and all lawmakers in 2008.
They accused the central government of rolling back freedom of speech, one of the Western-style civil liberties guaranteed to this former British colony when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
"It's trying to curtail our right of free speech, step by step, from the legislature, the media and eventually the public at large," said Albert Ho (
Another opposition lawmaker, Lee Cheuk-yan (
Hong Kong's Basic Law holds out the possibility of full democracy in the next few years, but China's top legislative panel ruled on April 26 that the move must be delayed because it would create the risk of bringing social or economic instability to the territory.
Hong Kong people have been clamoring for the right to choose the successor to Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa (
Beijing has viewed the push for democracy with great suspicion. The central government has been alarmed by the political situation in Hong Kong since last July 1, when 500,000 people marched to show opposition to an anti-subversion bill they viewed as a threat to freedoms. Tung was forced to withdraw the measure.
Ordinary voters will be allowed to choose 30 of 60 Legco seats in September, up from 24 last time.
Although the other 30 seats will be chosen by special interest groups -- such as businessmen, bankers and doctors -- who tend to side with Beijing, the central government is worried that Hong Kong could elect a legislature that won't back Tung.
Hong Kong's pro-democracy lawmakers frequently introduce motions attacking the territory's government and they invariably fail -- as have recent efforts to formally criticize Beijing's ruling on democracy.
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
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
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
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
RSS