Pro-democracy campaigners in Hong Kong were furious yesterday after being told they were "wasting their time" by pressing for early free elections.
Hong Kong's Chief Secretary and deputy leader Donald Tsang (
Tsang heads a taskforce on constitutional reform in Hong Kong set up after 500,000 people took part in a July protest demanding free elections in time for the re-election of the chief executive in 2007.
Presenting an interim report on Wednesday, Tsang said that although many submissions had been put forward calling for early democracy they would not be considered because of Beijing's decision.
"There is no more room for discussion on universal suffrage in 2007-08," Tsang said. "We should not waste time on this pointless
argument."
The remarks were widely criticized yesterday by pro-democracy advocates, who say it exposes the taskforce's work in gathering views on constitutional reform as a sham.
Democratic Party Legislator Yeung Sum (
Democratic Party chairman Lee Wing-tat (李永達) told the South China Morning Post the single most important demand, for universal suffrage by 2007, had been ignored.
"This so-called consultation is conducted in a bird cage," he said.
Hong Kong is entitled to universal suffrage from 2007 under the terms of its post-handover mini-constitution, the Basic Law.
However, the Basic Law does not specify a timetable and China's National People's Congress announced earlier this year there could be no universal suffrage in the territory for at least the next four years.
Currently, half the seats in the legislature are directly elected while the rest are chosen by largely pro-government professional interest groups. The chief executive is selected by an election committee.
In his interim report, Tsang suggested the legislature could be enlarged and that more people could sit on the election committee that chooses the chief executive.
The taskforce will submit a report to Beijing next year.
Meanwhile, the territory's most colorful political activist and legislator will take his call for greater democracy to Macau at the weekend and hopes to deliver a petition to visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao (
Leung Kwok-hung (
But this will be the first time he makes such an attempt in his new capacity as a legislator after winning a seat in September elections.
"I want to hand him [Hu] a petition asking for a vindication of the June 4 movement, a return of power to the people, the release of political prisoners, and full direct elections for Hong Kong and Macau," Leung said yesterday.
"Let's see whether they'll let me enter first," he added when pressed for details of his plan.
The June 4 movement refers to the student-led pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in 1989, which Beijing condemned as subversive and crushed brutally, killing hundreds and possibly thousands of protesters.
Hu arrives in Macau on Sunday to celebrate Monday's fifth anniversary of its return to China.
END OF AN ERA: The vote brings the curtain down on 20 years of socialist rule, which began in 2005 when Evo Morales, an indigenous coca farmer, was elected president A center-right senator and a right-wing former president are to advance to a run-off for Bolivia’s presidency after the first round of elections on Sunday, marking the end of two decades of leftist rule, preliminary official results showed. Bolivian Senator Rodrigo Paz was the surprise front-runner, with 32.15 percent of the vote cast in an election dominated by a deep economic crisis, results published by the electoral commission showed. He was followed by former Bolivian president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga in second with 26.87 percent, according to results based on 92 percent of votes cast. Millionaire businessman Samuel Doria Medina, who had been tipped
ELECTION DISTRACTION? When attention shifted away from the fight against the militants to politics, losses and setbacks in the battlefield increased, an analyst said Recent clashes in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Jubaland region are alarming experts, exposing cracks in the country’s federal system and creating an opening for militant group al-Shabaab to gain ground. Following years of conflict, Somalia is a loose federation of five semi-autonomous member states — Puntland, Jubaland, Galmudug, Hirshabelle and South West — that maintain often fractious relations with the central government in the capital, Mogadishu. However, ahead of elections next year, Somalia has sought to assert control over its member states, which security analysts said has created gaps for al-Shabaab infiltration. Last week, two Somalian soldiers were killed in clashes between pro-government forces and
Ten cheetah cubs held in captivity since birth and destined for international wildlife trade markets have been rescued in Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia. They were all in stable condition despite all of them having been undernourished and limping due to being tied in captivity for months, said Laurie Marker, founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, which is caring for the cubs. One eight-month-old cub was unable to walk after been tied up for six months, while a five-month-old was “very malnourished [a bag of bones], with sores all over her body and full of botfly maggots which are under the
BRUSHED OFF: An ambassador to Australia previously said that Beijing does not see a reason to apologize for its naval exercises and military maneuvers in international areas China set off alarm bells in New Zealand when it dispatched powerful warships on unprecedented missions in the South Pacific without explanation, military documents showed. Beijing has spent years expanding its reach in the southern Pacific Ocean, courting island nations with new hospitals, freshly paved roads and generous offers of climate aid. However, these diplomatic efforts have increasingly been accompanied by more overt displays of military power. Three Chinese warships sailed the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand in February, the first time such a task group had been sighted in those waters. “We have never seen vessels with this capability
RSS