Hong Kong’s first Chinese leader after the end of British rule on Wednesday appealed to all sides in the democracy dispute to work together, while the territory’s last British leader said China must stand by its promises.
Hong Kong, which returned to China in 1997, is bracing for a wave of protests after Beijing on Sunday ruled out fully democratic elections for the city’s leader in 2017, sparking a political showdown with democracy advocates.
“Hong Kong is our home, we have to work together,” former Hong Kong chief executive Tung Chee-hwa (董建華) said in a speech. “The only way out, and the only way forward, is through working together, hand in hand, otherwise there will be no end to bitter squabbles and the paralysis.”
Photo: Reuters
A half-million strong anti-government rally forced former shipping magnate Tung to step down in 2005, nearly two years before completing his second five-year term. He had faced criticism over plans for an anti-subversion bill amid widespread calls for greater democracy.
Police on Monday used pepper spray to disperse activists who heckled and jeered a senior Chinese official who flew to Hong Kong to explain the decision by China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee.
China said in the Basic Law mini-constitution for Hong Kong that universal suffrage was an eventual aim. It said it would permit a vote for Hong Kong’s next chief executive, but only for a handful of pre-screened candidates.
Meanwhile, Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong, who was in tears during the 1997 handover ceremony, said Britain had a moral and political obligation to ensure China respects its commitments.
“We have a huge stake in the well-being of Hong Kong, with a political system in balance with its economic freedom,” Patten said in a letter to the Financial Times.
His letter came a day after Britain’s parliament said it had rejected Chinese calls to scrap an inquiry into Hong Kong’s progress toward democracy.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was