A senior Chinese law expert has said Hong Kong isn't ready for full democracy partly because the community lacks a consensus on the issue and people need better patriotic education, local media reported yesterday.
The comments were widely reported in the media because leading Chinese legal academics are believed to serve as the spokesmen for the communist leadership.
The remarks were made on Thursday at a conference in Beijing about Hong Kong's mini Constitution, or "Basic Law." by legal scholar Wang Zhenmin (
"I believe Hong Kong can achieve universal suffrage one day. But we need to conduct research and measure carefully how to approach it," the South China Morning Post quoted Wang as saying.
Wang, deputy dean of Tsinghua University's law school in Beijing, also said Hong Kong needs an anti-subversion law. The measure originally drew intense opposition when officials tried to initiate it in 2003, reported Ming Pao Daily News.
He said there was a lack of civic education that inspires patriotism, the Post reported.
Wang also said Hong Kong's political culture needed to be more mature, the pro-Beijing Wen Wei Po reported.
He said the legislature's defeat of the government's political reform package last year was a sign that Hong Kong wasn't ready for greater reform.
Pro-democracy lawmakers defeated the bill because it didn't include a timeline for when Hong Kong would become democratic.
REVENGE: Trump said he had the support of the Syrian government for the strikes, which took place in response to an Islamic State attack on US soldiers last week The US launched large-scale airstrikes on more than 70 targets across Syria, the Pentagon said on Friday, fulfilling US President Donald Trump’s vow to strike back after the killing of two US soldiers. “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on social media. “Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue.” The US Central Command said that fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery targeted ISIS infrastructure and weapon sites. “All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby warned
Seven wild Asiatic elephants were killed and a calf was injured when a high-speed passenger train collided with a herd crossing the tracks in India’s northeastern state of Assam early yesterday, local authorities said. The train driver spotted the herd of about 100 elephants and used the emergency brakes, but the train still hit some of the animals, Indian Railways spokesman Kapinjal Kishore Sharma told reporters. Five train coaches and the engine derailed following the impact, but there were no human casualties, Sharma said. Veterinarians carried out autopsies on the dead elephants, which were to be buried later in the day. The accident site
RUSHED: The US pushed for the October deal to be ready for a ceremony with Trump, but sometimes it takes time to create an agreement that can hold, a Thai official said Defense officials from Thailand and Cambodia are to meet tomorrow to discuss the possibility of resuming a ceasefire between the two countries, Thailand’s top diplomat said yesterday, as border fighting entered a third week. A ceasefire agreement in October was rushed to ensure it could be witnessed by US President Donald Trump and lacked sufficient details to ensure the deal to end the armed conflict would hold, Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs Sihasak Phuangketkeow said after an ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur. The two countries agreed to hold talks using their General Border Committee, an established bilateral mechanism, with Thailand
‘POLITICAL LOYALTY’: The move breaks with decades of precedent among US administrations, which have tended to leave career ambassadors in their posts US President Donald Trump’s administration has ordered dozens of US ambassadors to step down, people familiar with the matter said, a precedent-breaking recall that would leave embassies abroad without US Senate-confirmed leadership. The envoys, career diplomats who were almost all named to their jobs under former US president Joe Biden, were told over the phone in the past few days they needed to depart in the next few weeks, the people said. They would not be fired, but finding new roles would be a challenge given that many are far along in their careers and opportunities for senior diplomats can
RSS