In the summers of 2003 and 2004, hundreds of thousands of protesters filled the streets here to call for the direct election of Hong Kong's chief executive and the entire legislature. But the demand was quickly ruled out by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's rubber-stamp parliament.
Now, with unexpected support from Beijing, the government here is preparing to move a step closer to fully democratic representation with an election plan to be announced next month.
The proposal involves giving a greater role to neighborhood councilors -- most of whom are elected by Hong Kong voters -- in choosing the chief executive and six of the 70 members of Hong Kong's legislature, the chairmen of the three main political parties here said in separate interviews.
PHOTO: AP
All three chairmen voiced qualified support for the outlines of the plan, while saying that they wanted to see the final details.
The two parties that have traditionally backed the Hong Kong government -- the pro-business Liberal Party and the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, or DAB -- had both advocated more restrictive plans for constitutional changes that would have guaranteed more influence for their politicians.
The government's plan "is not our first choice, but we could live with that," said James Tien (
Ma Lik (
Lee Wing-tat (李永達), the chairman of the Democratic Party, said in an interview last week that depending on the details of the plan, his party might support it. Democracy advocates make up a little more than two-fifths of the legislature, and that gives them a veto for any plan for electoral changes, which require the support of two-thirds of the legislature.
Lee said his party remained concerned that the executive branch, led by Tsang, chooses 102 of the 529 neighborhood councilors in Hong Kong. The appointed members are mostly business leaders who tilt toward Beijing.
The Democratic Party wants the appointed councilors excluded from selecting any members of the legislature or the chief executive; the DAB and the Liberal Party want the appointed councilors included.
Raymond Tam, principal assistant secretary for constitutional affairs, declined to comment on the electoral plan, but he did say that the government intended to move toward "the ultimate aim of universal suffrage in a gradual and orderly manner," and wanted to make the chief executive and legislative council more representative.
In a further attempt to woo democrats, Beijing invited all 60 members of the legislature here to visit nearby Chinese cities yesterday and today. It will be the first time that many pro-democracy lawmakers will have been allowed across the border since the Tiananmen Square killings on June 4, 1989.
There are currently 800 members -- including 42 of the district councilors -- of the Election Committee, which choose the chief executive. Under the new plan, all district councilors would join the Election Committee along with several hundred representatives of business, professional groups and grass-roots organizations, doubling the total membership to 1,600.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
OVERHAUL: The move would likely mark the end to Voice of America, which was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda and operated in nearly 50 languages The parent agency of Voice of America (VOA) on Friday said it had issued termination notices to more than 639 more staff, completing an 85 percent decrease in personnel since March and effectively spelling the end of a broadcasting network founded to counter Nazi propaganda. US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) senior advisor Kari Lake said the staff reduction meant 1,400 positions had been eliminated as part of US President Donald Trump’s agenda to cut staffing at the agency to a statutory minimum. “Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM and Voice of America, part of a
Canada and the EU on Monday signed a defense and security pact as the transatlantic partners seek to better confront Russia, with worries over Washington’s reliability under US President Donald Trump. The deal was announced after a summit in Brussels between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. “While NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defense, this partnership will allow us to strengthen our preparedness ... to invest more and to invest smarter,” Costa told a news conference. “It opens new opportunities for companies on both sides of the
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image
RSS