A Chinese official yesterday met a second group of Hong Kong democracy activists in a week, as Beijing steps up lobbying for its plan to allow only limited political reforms in the territory.
Yesterday’s meeting between Deputy Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in Hong Kong Li Gang (李剛) and the Alliance for Universal Suffrage comes after the first official contact between Beijing and Hong Kong’s leading opposition party on Monday. Li met the chairman and deputy chairwomen of the Democratic Party on Monday in an unprecedented outreach to a group that Beijing traditionally views as troublemakers.
Deputy convener of the Alliance for Universal Suffrage Wong Pik-wan told reporters after arriving at the liaison office that her group hopes “the central government leaders will respond to Hong Kongers’ aspirations for a roadmap to true democracy.”
While Hong Kong enjoys Western-style civil liberties and maintains a capitalist system as part of its semiautonomous status under communist Chinese rule, it has only limited elections. Its leader is chosen by an 800-member committee stacked with Beijing loyalists and its 60-member legislature is half-elected, half chosen by interest groups.
In a reform package backed by Beijing, the Hong Kong government recently proposed expanding the leader selection committee to 1,200 people for the 2012 election cycle and expanding the legislature to 70 members — but keeping the chamber half-elected. Democracy activists say the proposals don’t go far enough.
Despite China’s olive branch, the pro-democracy camp has continued to oppose the proposed reforms.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of