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 (
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 (
"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.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was