Hong Kong’s leader hit back yesterday at Chinese media criticism of an unofficial democracy poll in the territory, softening his previous stance on the ballot after turnout far exceeded organizers’ expectations.
More than 700,000 people have voted so far in the informal referendum, as fears grow that Beijing will backtrack on its promise to allow Hong Kong’s voters to choose the leader they want.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying (梁振英) said that voters had “expressed their hopes and demands” for elections of the territory’s leader in 2017.
Photo: AFP
He hit back at an editorial in China’s Global Times newspaper condemning the poll as “an illegal farce” and saying that China’s massive 1.3 billion population outweighed opinions in Hong Kong.
“Global Times yesterday came out with a piece, headlined: ‘However many involved in illegal referendum, it can’t match 1.3 billion’ — I don’t agree with that,” Leung said. “Nobody should place Hong Kong people in confrontation with mainland Chinese citizens.”
He also defended voters’ rights to have their say.
“Many of the participating citizens have expressed their hopes and demands for the 2017 chief executive elections,” he said
As of 2pm yesterday more than 732,000 people had taken part online, via mobile phones and at polling stations.
The informal referendum, organized by pro-democracy activists, sets out three options for choosing the chief executive, all of which include civil nomination of candidates. Currently the leader is chosen by a pro-Beijing election committee.
Leung’s response contrasted sharply with his initial reaction, which was in line with Beijing’s stance that the referendum proposals go against Hong Kong’s Basic Law, or constitution.
“All three options in the ballot are against the Basic Law,” Leung said on Friday last week.
When asked by reporters, Leung rebuffed Beijing’s earlier criticisms that holding the referendum was illegal.
“In our language, it [the referendum] does not have any legal basis, but it will not lead to criminal responsibilities,” he said.
“Leung’s remarks demonstrate the fact that the Hong Kong government is politically sandwiched between Beijing and the people of Hong Kong who demand to select a chief executive through universal suffrage,” said Sonny Lo (盧兆興), head of Social Sciences at the Hong Kong Institute of Education.
“It is the predicament of the Hong Kong government, being hard-pressed by the democrats while Beijing has already said ‘no,’” he said.
The referendum was organized by protest group Occupy Central, who says it will take over the streets of Hong Kong if the government does not include an element of civil nomination in the election for the territory’s leader.
The Global Times criticized activists again yesterday in its third editorial on the referendum in the past four days.
“The radicals in Hong Kong are dragging Hong Kong to a murky future,” it said. “China is not Ukraine and Hong Kong is unlikely to become another Kiev or Donetsk.”
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