HK's Tsang provokes more anger

Pressure mounted for Hong Kong and Beijing leaders to respond to calls for full democracy after tens of thousands of protesters demanded the right to choose their leader.

The mass protest dealt the first major blow to Chief Executive Donald Tsang (曾蔭權) since he took over from his unpopular predecessor Tung Chee-hwa (董建華) earlier this year.

Many protesters wore black T-shirts and some carried huge, makeshift bird cages to suggest that democratic development has been curtailed.

The protesters and opposition lawmakers urged Tsang to talk to Beijing about people's demands for a roadmap specifying when and how the Chinese territory can have full democracy.

They attacked the government's bid to pass a modest political reform package in the legislature on Dec. 21.

Organizers said Sunday's protest drew 250,000 people, but police put the turnout at 63,000. An independent count by the University of Hong Kong said between 81,000 and 98,000 people took part.

In response, Tsang agreed to make limited changes to the proposal, which calls for doubling the size of the 800-member committee that picks Hong Kong's leader and expanding the 60-member legislature as steps toward greater democracy. But he ruled out the possibility of major concessions.

"I will see what I can do to perfect the package. But it will be on limited scale," Tsang said at a news conference after the rally.

"Both the central government and this administration are actively leading this community towards universal suffrage in an orderly fashion," he said.

"I am 60 years of age. I certainly want to see universal suffrage taking place in Hong Kong in my time," he continued.

Both the political opposition and the Hong Kong media blasted Tsang's response, saying far-reaching reforms are more pressing than ever.

"I don't think he answers the call for democracy of the 250,000 people that marched on the streets," Legislator Lee Cheuk-yan (李卓人) said, who held a sit-in with about 50 protesters at government headquarters before police peacefully removed them early yesterday.

"We want to see concrete actions,'' he said.

"With such a strong and widespread consensus for a timetable on full democracy, why are the governments still muttering excuses?'' the mass-market Apple Daily newspaper wrote in a commentary yesterday.

Opposition to the government's reform package has reinvigorated the pro-democracy movement, which slowed down after Beijing rejected a quick transition to democracy last year.

Two pro-democracy marches helped trigger the territory's first leadership change since the handover in 1997. Both protests -- in 2003 and last year -- drew half a million people demanding the right to pick their leader and all lawmakers.

Currently, only half of the legislators are directly elected, while the other half are selected by interest groups.

Beijing has warned that a quick move toward democracy would threaten Hong Kong's future political stability and the economy.

Full direct elections were promised as a goal under its mini-constitution but no timetable was given.