Opposition lawmakers poured scorn yesterday on a plea by Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang (
Tsang's televised appeal on Wednesday was counterproductive, they said, and instead steeled opponents as they prepared to protest against the proposals in a mass rally scheduled for Sunday.
The chief executive's reform plan, first rolled out in October, seeks to move the southern Chinese territory away from a system in which political leaders are selected by a committee of mostly Beijing-backed elites.
However, democrats agitating for universal suffrage say the measures don't move the former British colony close enough to full democracy and have vowed to vote the bill down in the legislature.
In his speech, Tsang said his proposals were the best chance democrats had of realizing their dream of full democracy.
"I really cannot see any other option that can better suit Hong Kong's current circumstances," he said in the emotionally charged five-minute broadcast. "We are now facing a real danger of our democratic development coming to a halt."
Democrats were unmoved, saying they believed the address was counterproductive to his position.
"We have to thank Donald because from what I have heard, people are not happy at being told what to do by him. He has instead brought more attention to us," said veteran pro-democracy Lawmaker Emily Lau (
"He didn't look good and it did him no good at all. He may even have encouraged more people to join our march," Lau added.
Bobo Yip (
Tsang is obliged by the Basic Law, the post-colonial constitution, to introduce an electoral system based on universal suffrage.
At the moment, only half the 60-seat legislature is directly elected.
The law, however, gives no target date, and legislators and Chinese and Hong Kong officials have fought a bitter feud over the timing ever since the city reverted to Chinese rule in 1997.
Tsang proposed only modest interim reform proposals after Beijing last year ruled out a swift transition to full democracy.
Beijing opposes any sudden change, fearing it may spark democratic sentiment on the mainland or instability in Hong Kong, China's richest city and the conduit for much of the investment that fuels the mainland's economic growth.
Democrats have said they may consider passing the proposals if Tsang gave them a clear timetable for the implementation of steps leading to full democracy, something he has so far rejected.
Sunday's march will gather support for that call, organizers hope.
The democratic movement's figurehead Martin Lee (
"The people of Hong Kong have no other option but to show solidarity by joining together, by taking part in peaceful assembly to voice our aspirations, to let the Beijing leaders know we really want and deserve democracy," Lee told a public forum in Washington.
If estimates of rally turnouts of 100,000 to 200,000 people should prove true, they would seriously embarrass the government and could wound Tsang politically.
The former civil servant, a once loyal servant of the British colonial government, was not China's ideal choice to lead the territory.
But his huge popularity ratings and ability to win over the public made him the best stand-in when former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa (
His address was part of a carrot-and-stick joint push by Hong Kong and China to bring opponents around to the administration's position.
The effort also included an invitation by Beijing for Hong Kong lawmakers -- including many democrats banned from the mainland -- to put their claims to a Chinese official today.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS