Hong Kong legislators typically reviled in Beijing have stuck by their pro-democracy views ahead of a rare tour of China starting today, as the pro-China media expressed hope that the trip would soften their impression of their home country.
Hong Kong lawmakers -- including some who were previously banned in the mainland -- are gearing up for an official trip to Guangzhou, viewed as a goodwill gesture from China.
But opposition figures reiterated the pro-democracy positions that first ran them afoul of Beijing ahead of the trip. The Democratic Party, whose former chairman Martin Lee (李柱銘) has been branded a "traitor" by Beijing, wrote to Guangdong Communist Party Secretary Zhang Dejiang (
The party demanded direct elections for all political offices in Hong Kong by 2008. The territory's leader is picked by an 800-member committee and only half of the city's 60 legislators are elected. The rest are picked by interest groups.
The party also asked China to reverse its condemnation of pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989, which the Chinese military crushed that June, killing hundreds.
But pro-Beijing newspaper Wen Wei Po said in an editorial yesterday it hoped witnessing China's progress will change the lawmakers' "prejudices."
All eyes are on whether radical legislator "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung (梁國雄), a veteran street protester, will demonstrate in front of Chinese officials. Leung wasn't immediately available for comment. His office said yesterday he was due to return to Hong Kong from abroad later in the day.
Democratic Party Chairman Lee Wing-tat (李永達) yesterday praised the invitation to visit China as a positive step but said he held modest expectations because of a crammed schedule.
While the legislators are scheduled to meet with Guangdong officials and dine with them, the two-day itinerary is dominated by sightseeing and company visits. The lawmakers are scheduled to hit three cities in one day: Shenzhen, Dongguan and Guangzhou.
"There won't be a lot of substantial results from two days, one night of visits. It's so rushed. But I hope afterward everyone will feel this communication is meaningful and continue it," Lee said.
Legislator Emily Lau (劉慧卿), who hasn't been able to renew her China travel document since the mid-1990s, complained that the banned lawmakers apparently were only getting one-time clearance to visit China.
In another issue clouding the trip, Hong Kong's pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper hasn't been able to obtain permission to cover the lawmaker tour. The Hong Kong government said it had no immediate comment.
‘EATING UP SPRING’: Temperatures are 10oC to 15oC above the seasonal average and a city northwest of Madrid experienced its first ‘tropical’ May night on Friday Parts of Spain are experiencing their hottest May since records began, as a mass of hot, dry air blows in from Africa, bringing with it dusty skies and temperatures of more than 40°C. Spain’s state meteorological agency, Aemet, has warned of a weekend heat wave of an “extraordinary intensity,” with temperatures between 10°C and 15°C above the seasonal average and more akin to high summer than mid-May. “The early hours of 21 May have been extraordinarily hot for the time of year across a good part of the center and south of the peninsula,” Aemet said on Saturday. “In many places the
BUSINESS AS USUAL: Thousands of people were forcibly removed from their homes in the dead of night and all mentions of the incident were scrubbed from the Internet Thousands of COVID-19-negative Beijing residents were forcibly relocated to quarantine hotels overnight due to a handful of infections, as the Chinese capital begins to take more extreme control measures resembling virus-hit Shanghai. Beijing has been battling its worst outbreak since the COVID-19 pandemic started. The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 has infected more than 1,300 since late last month, leading city restaurants, schools and tourist attractions to be closed indefinitely. China’s strategy to achieve zero COVID-19 cases includes strict border closures, lengthy quarantines, mass testing and rapid, targeted lockdowns. More than 13,000 residents of the locked-down Nanxinyuan residential compound in southeast Beijing were
‘I’M STUNNED’: The disease is not known to be sexually transmitted, but a large outbreak might reveal previously unknown transmission routes, a virologist said Scientists who have monitored numerous outbreaks of monkeypox in Africa say they are baffled by the disease’s recent spread in Europe and North America. Cases of the smallpox-related disease have previously been seen only among people with links to central and West Africa. However, in the past week, Britain, Spain, Portugal, Italy, the US, Sweden, Canada all reported infections, mostly in young men who had not previously traveled to Africa. There are about 80 confirmed cases worldwide and 50 more suspected ones, the WHO said. France, Germany, Belgium and Australia reported their first cases on Friday. “I’m stunned by this. Every day I
INTERVENTION: A source said that a border patrol agent had rushed into the school without waiting for backup and killed the teen gunman, who was behind a barricade An 18-year-old man on Tuesday opened fire at a Texas elementary school, killing at least 19 children as he went from classroom to classroom, officials said. The attacker was killed by law enforcement. The death toll also included two adults, authorities said. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said that one of the two was a teacher. The assault at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde was the deadliest shooting at a US school since a man killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012. Outside the town civic center, where families were told to await news
RSS