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US Congress raises civil liberties issue with HK executive

The US Congress has expressed concerns over civil liberty curbs in Hong Kong directly to Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang (曾蔭權), during talks in Capitol Hill.

Media and immigration controls, disappointment over a constitutional reform plan and failure to make progress on universal suffrage were among the concerns raised by leaders of the US legislature during talks with Tsang, who is on a three day visit to Washington.

Republican Representative Henry Hyde, the chairman of the powerful committee on international relations of the House of Representatives, and ranking Democratic member Tom Lantos raised the issues in a "very candid but cordial" fashion, Hyde's spokesman Sam Stratman said.

"The concerns over civil liberties were on freedom of the press -- self-censorship and interference in press -- and denial of visas to pro-democracy activists, Beijing's lack of respect for the Basic Law, disappointment with the constitutional reform plan and failure to make progress on universal suffrage," Stratman said.

Congress sought "further progress in the development of democracy in Hong Kong," said Lynne Weil, spokeswoman for Lantos.

"The positive sign is the upcoming election of the chief executive," she said.

Tsang, named by Beijing this year, told reporters that he briefed Congress on the latest proposal submitted to the Hong Kong legislative council seeking elections next year of a chief executive and 2007 for the territory's legislature.

The plan also calls for doubling the size of the 800-member election committee that chooses the chief executive and is currently stacked with prominent citizens loyal to Beijing. It did not however spell out a timetable for giving the public the right to elect the territory's leader and lawmakers, and unconvinced opposition lawmakers have vowed to vote it down in the legislature. They are also organizing a large-scale protest on Dec. 4 for the public to denounce the reform proposals.

But Tsang on Wednesday defended the reform plans, saying they "represent a major advancement in our democratic arrangements in Hong Kong" and "these developments were welcome by our interlocutors, including Chairman Hyde."

Under the territory's post-colonial constitution, it must enact laws that will eventually create a fully representative electoral system. But China stymied a swift transition in a controversial ruling last year, insisting change must be gradual.

Tsang said the meetings with US lawmakers, senior officials and business leaders here were "very important and very useful to dispel unnecessary conceptions of Hong Kong among leading figures in the American administration, Congress and private sector."

He was scheduled to hold talks with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Vice-President Dick Cheney yesterday.

His predecessors have met with the US president during their trips to Washington but Tsang did not consider it a "downgrade" for not being able to meet with US President George W. Bush.
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