The Hong Kong government announced yesterday it will make changes boosting the proportion of elected representatives on a panel that chooses the territory's leader as part of a reform proposal backed by Beijing but denounced by protesters.
But the amended proposal drew fire from opposition lawmakers, who threatened to veto the package during a vote tomorrow because they said it falls far short of demands for universal suffrage.
"It's just window-dressing and meaningless," pro-democracy Legislator Ronny Tong (湯家驊) said. The government "doesn't demonstrate any sincerity in responding to the call of the people of Hong Kong for a timetable" for democracy.
Earlier, the Hong Kong government proposed doubling the size of the territory's 800-member leader selection committee and expanding the legislature. The plan entails adding 529 city councilors to the leader selection panel and adding five legislative seats for the councilors.
But tens of thousands of people marched two weeks ago, saying that the reforms did not go far enough, prompting Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang (
One point of contention was the number of appointed city councilors. Currently, 102 district councilors are appointed. But Hong Kong's political opposition have called for abolishing such seats, saying they were undemocratic.
Yesterday, Chief Secretary for Administration Rafael Hui (
That means the proposed makeup of the panel that chooses Hong Kong's next leader in 2007 won't be affected, but later committees will have fewer appointees.
"These adjustments are the most that the government can do," Hui told a news conference.
Tsang urged lawmakers to accept the proposal, arguing that polls have shown that many citizens think a democratic timetable should be dealt with separately.
"The marches have taken place. The slogans have been chanted. Now the public wants to see solid progress in democratic development. The public wants its electoral representatives to help democracy take root and flourish," Tsang said.
But pro-democracy lawmakers, who want full democracy by 2012, said the proposal was too limited.
"We are very disappointed," said Lee Wing-tat (
Eleven people, including a former minister, were arrested in Serbia on Friday over a train station disaster in which 16 people died. The concrete canopy of the newly renovated station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, 2024 in a disaster widely blamed on corruption and poor oversight. It sparked a wave of student-led protests and led to the resignation of then-Serbian prime minister Milos Vucevic and the fall of his government. The public prosecutor’s office in Novi Sad opened an investigation into the accident and deaths. In February, the public prosecutor’s office for organized crime opened another probe into
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
RESTRUCTURE: Myanmar’s military has ended emergency rule and announced plans for elections in December, but critics said the move aims to entrench junta control Myanmar’s military government announced on Thursday that it was ending the state of emergency declared after it seized power in 2021 and would restructure administrative bodies to prepare for the new election at the end of the year. However, the polls planned for an unspecified date in December face serious obstacles, including a civil war raging over most of the country and pledges by opponents of the military rule to derail the election because they believe it can be neither free nor fair. Under the restructuring, Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is giving up two posts, but would stay at the
YELLOW SHIRTS: Many protesters were associated with pro-royalist groups that had previously supported the ouster of Paetongtarn’s father, Thaksin, in 2006 Protesters rallied on Saturday in the Thai capital to demand the resignation of court-suspended Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and in support of the armed forces following a violent border dispute with Cambodia that killed more than three dozen people and displaced more than 260,000. Gathered at Bangkok’s Victory Monument despite soaring temperatures, many sang patriotic songs and listened to speeches denouncing Paetongtarn and her father, former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and voiced their backing of the country’s army, which has always retained substantial power in the Southeast Asian country. Police said there were about 2,000 protesters by mid-afternoon, although