Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang (曾蔭權) has hinted at the possibility of adopting full universal suffrage in the city in 2012 amid calls by democracy activists for a timetable for its introduction, a local newspaper reported yesterday.
Two years ago China ruled out a full vote for next year, and tens of thousands of demonstrators and a high-profile former senior civil servant in the British colony, Anson Chan (
Limited suffrage
Pro-democracy advocates have long called for full democracy in a city where leaders are selected by a committee of 800 pro-Beijing elites and only half the 60-seat legislature is directly elected.
They had originally hoped for a transition to universal suffrage by next year and 2008.
When asked about Chan's comments that Hong Kong was not a democratic society, Tsang refused to explicitly give a schedule for the introduction of universal suffrage but then mentioned 2012 as a possibility.
"People of Hong Kong know best what kind of society we have. They are not frogs at the bottom of a well," Tsang was quoted as saying by the South China Morning Post.
No timetable
"I cannot give an opportunist timetable like somebody else. We should not continue to use some opportunistic slogans or some general comments," he said, during a visit to Singapore. "Other than 2007 and 2008, it is possible to implement universal suffrage any time, including 2012."
"We have to work hard pragmatically," he added.
The newspaper said it was the first time the usually cautious Tsang had publicly mentioned any target date. Half of Hong Kong's 60-seat legislative council is elected by universal suffrage, with 30 seats chosen by professional and special interest groups.
Pro-democracy demonstrators took to the streets last November demanding full universal suffrage and rejecting attempts by Tsang to gradually change the make-up of the legislative council to make it more representative.
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