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Top Hong Kong activist to retire

Veteran lawmaker and activist Martin Lee (李柱銘), hailed the "father of Hong Kong democracy" by supporters but branded a traitor by Beijing, will retire from politics, the chairman of his party said.

"He's already worked in the legislature for 23 years, and he just turned 70 this year," Democratic Party Chairman Albert Ho (何俊仁) said on a Cable TV broadcast aired yesterday. "He thinks it's the appropriate time to quit."

Hong Kong's best known democracy advocate, Lee has campaigned for direct elections for all political offices and served as the founding chairman of the Democratic Party from 1994 to 2002.

His lobbying efforts abroad, especially in Washington, have outraged China, which has labeled him a "traitor" to the country.

A former British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997, Hong Kong has never enjoyed full democracy under either ruler, but it enjoys Western-style civil liberties like freedom of the press and protest.

Hong Kong's leader is chosen by an 800-member committee loyal to Beijing. Half of its legislators are elected, with the rest chosen by interest groups.

Beijing ruled last year the territory could elect its own leader in 2017 and all of its legislators sometime after that. But democracy activists, who had been pushing for an earlier date, fear China will continue to screen candidates.

Lee was quoted as saying in Ming Pao Daily News newspaper yesterday that his biggest regret was not seeing full democracy during his political career.

He said he would continue his fight for democracy after the next legislative elections in September

"Of course I won't be on TV and won't meet with journalists as often," Lee was quoted as saying. "But I will come forward on the big issues, during the protests."
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