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Hong Kongers slam Beijing over 2017 date

Security guards remove lawmaker and pro-democracy activist Leung Kwok-hung before a forum addressed by Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang and Deputy Secretary-General of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Qiao Xiaoyang at Government House in Hong Kong on Saturday. PHOTO: EPA

Hong Kong's pro-democracy camp yesterday condemned China's decision to delay the direct election of the city's leader until at least 2017, but some analysts and media gave it a cautious welcome.

Albert Chan (陳偉業), a lawmaker with the League of Social Democrats, said the democracy movement now needed to adopt a radical approach and called for a campaign of non-cooperation, with a blanket vote against all government bills.

"We need to disrupt our administration and force them to rethink the consequences of depriving Hong Kong people's political rights," he said on local broadcaster RTHK's Letter to Hong Kong.

"Without changes, in another 20 years, we will be still waiting for democracy, but this time, in our grave," he said.

Beijing's announcement on Saturday to give a tentative green light to the election of the former British colony's chief executive in 2017 was the clearest indication yet of the city's political future.

But the move ignored Chief Executive Donald Tsang's (曾蔭權) admission in a report earlier this month that the public expected the leader to be elected by universal suffrage in 2012.

Under the existing system, the chief executive is chosen by an 800-member committee of mainly pro-Beijing representatives of business and professional groups.

More than 1,000 protesters marched through the city on Saturday to condemn the announcement.

The English-language Sunday Morning Post said that some comfort should be taken from the decision, but conceded there would be disappointment.

"But it is tempered by a silver lining in the decision, and should now be put aside in favour of following a clear path that has opened up towards democratic development," it said.

Timothy Wong, from the Chinese University's Institute of Asia-Pacific studies, said the move could act as a model for reform in mainland China.

"Compared with democratic elections in Western countries, the election of a chief executive by universal suffrage would be a better reference for democratic reform on the mainland," the Post quoted him as saying.

Universal suffrage for both the chief executive and the legislature was guaranteed when Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997, but no timetable was set.

At present, only half of 60 legislators are directly elected, while the remaining seats are held by representatives of business and professional groups mostly loyal to Beijing.
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