Thousands of people will gather in a Hong Kong park today to light candles and sing solemn songs as they remember the bloody crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing 17 years ago.
It's an annual tradition, the only such public vigil allowed in China marking the anniversary of the June 4, 1989, killings. But in recent months, there's been a new twist in how the pro-democracy forces in Hong Kong deal with Tiananmen.
A new pro-democracy political group, the Civic Party, has been formed by several widely respected lawmakers who have decided not to mention Tiananmen in their party's mission statement.
In stark contrast, the bigger Democratic Party's platform condemns the "atrocity" and demands punishment for the officials who ordered the military crackdown.
Some have accused the Civic Party members of sacrificing their principles for the sake of better relations with communist rulers in Beijing. But the party's leaders argue they're just being practical and their revulsion and outrage about Tiananmen haven't changed.
"You don't have strong feelings about June 4 today, then lose those strong feelings when you join a political party," said Audrey Eu (
Hong Kongers can't directly elect their leader, who's chosen by an 800-member committee loyal to Beijing. And they can only elect half of the 60-seat legislature. The other half is picked by groups representing professional sectors.
Like other pro-democracy parties, the Civic Party's manifesto calls for full democracy. But it's silent about Tiananmen.
Political scientist James Sung (宋立功) at the City University of Hong Kong said the Civic Party isn't bringing up Tiananmen because it wants to avoid the problems the more-established Democratic Party is having with Beijing. Chinese leaders have blacklisted many of the Democratic Party's leaders partly because of their outspoken, long-standing positions on the crackdown.
"They [Civic Party] want to have a better relationship, so they think that if they can leave out this hot issue, they can have a good relationship with Beijing," he said.
Sung said the party hopes to get more support from business.
"Many of the business sector people don't think political parties should insist that the June 4 incident be reviewed, and the Civic Party wants to please the business sector," he said.
But Civic Party lawmaker Ronny Tong (湯家驊) said his group wasn't trying to curry favor with Beijing and big business. He said Tiananmen was left out of the manifesto because it was beyond the scope of the party's interests.
"We take the view that the Tiananmen incident is a matter that transcends the local boundary. It's a national matter," Tong said. "The Civic Party is a local party and concentrates on local matters."
A feud has broken out between the top leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on whether to maintain close ties with Russia. The AfD leader Alice Weidel this week slammed planned visits to Russia by some party lawmakers, while coleader Tino Chrupalla voiced a defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The unusual split comes at a time when mainstream politicians have accused the anti-immigration AfD of acting as stooges for the Kremlin and even spying for Russia. The row has also erupted in a year in which the AfD is flying high, often polling above the record 20 percent it
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday vowed that those behind bogus flood control projects would be arrested before Christmas, days after deadly back-to-back typhoons left swathes of the country underwater. Scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers — including Marcos’ cousin congressman — have been accused of pocketing funds for substandard or so-called “ghost” infrastructure projects. The Philippine Department of Finance has estimated the nation’s economy lost up to 118.5 billion pesos (US$2 billion) since 2023 due to corruption in flood control projects. Criminal cases against most of the people implicated are nearly complete, Marcos told reporters. “We don’t file cases for
Ecuadorans are today to vote on whether to allow the return of foreign military bases and the drafting of a new constitution that could give the country’s president more power. Voters are to decide on the presence of foreign military bases, which have been banned on Ecuadoran soil since 2008. A “yes” vote would likely bring the return of the US military to the Manta air base on the Pacific coast — once a hub for US anti-drug operations. Other questions concern ending public funding for political parties, reducing the number of lawmakers and creating an elected body that would
‘ATTACK ON CIVILIZATION’: The culture ministry released drawings of six missing statues representing the Roman goddess of Venus, the tallest of which was 40cm Investigators believe that the theft of several ancient statues dating back to the Roman era from Syria’s national museum was likely the work of an individual, not an organized gang, officials said on Wednesday. The National Museum of Damascus was closed after the heist was discovered early on Monday. The museum had reopened in January as the country recovers from a 14-year civil war and the fall of the 54-year al-Assad dynasty last year. On Wednesday, a security vehicle was parked outside the main gate of the museum in central Damascus while security guards stood nearby. People were not allowed in because
RSS