use utmost courage to carry out its decision on Hong Kong,” Li said.
China yesterday said candidates for Hong Kong’s leadership poll must be approved by a 1,200-member committee, which opposition lawmakers have criticized as being stacked with business and political elite. The maximum number of contenders will be set at two or three, a limit that has upset activists.
Lawmakers Ejected
Opposition lawmakers shouted slogans and stood in front of Li during his address in Hong Kong at 10 a.m. The speech resumed after legislators including Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho, were escorted out of the hall or abandoned the venue near the city’s airport.“This is not a real election,” said Lee. “Hong Kong people will not accept this.”
Police officers manning barricades outside the venue turned back protesters. About 30 demonstrators clashed with police, and there were no arrests so far, Kwok Pak-chung, a district police commander, told reporters.
Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 0.3 percent at 1:30 p.m. in Hong Kong, and has gained almost 6.5 percent this year.
China’s decision “dashed the hopes” of even the most moderate democracy advocates, said Ivan Choy Chi-keung, a senior lecturer in politics at Chinese University of Hong Kong. “It’s clear that Beijing won’t allow a pro-democratic candidate in universal suffrage.”
‘Darkest Day’
Political unrest and a slowing economy may lead to a “perfect financial storm,” Hong Kong Financial Secretary John Tsang wrote on Aug. 10. The city last month cut its economic growth forecast as a slowdown in China crimped the purchases of luxury items and weighed on local sentiment.“Today is the darkest day in the history of Hong Kong’s democratic development,” Benny Tai Yiu-ting, co-founder of Occupy Central, told reporters yesterday. “I think now this is the end of any dialogue.”
Obedient citizens will now disobey orders as Hong Kong enters a new era, Tai told cheering supporters gathered amid drizzling rain yesterday. The movement has pledged a series of actions culminating in a mass sit-in of at least 10,000 people in the financial district, some of whom will be designated to hand out flowers
“If Occupy Central does happens, we believe the SAR government and its well-trained police forces are fully capable of handling” protests, Li said.
Barricades Erected
In a sign of increasing tension, policemen were seen at regular intervals on the streets of the business district today, and barricades were erected outside buildings including the Cheung Kong Center, owned by Asia’s richest man, Li Ka-shing. Scaffolding was erected in the space beneath HSBC’s Asian headquarters in Central yesterday, with a sign explaining that an open air heritage space was being constructed to celebrate the bank’s 150th anniversary next year.Li said today that Hong Kong should move forward on political reforms, according to an e-mailed statement from Cheung Kong.
China’s ruling was welcomed by business groups including the Federation of Hong Kong Industries and Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, which have earlier warned that protests will damage the city’s reputation as a financial center.
International Confidence
An illegal occupation of the central district will “rock international confidence in Hong Kong’s stability,” Pang Yiu-kai, the chamber’s chairman, said in a statement.In Washington, the State Department expressed support for the demands of the protesters, saying the election’s legitimacy will be “greatly enhanced” if the people get “a genuine choice of candidates representative of the voters’ will.”
Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council yesterday said it feels “regret” over China’s decision to screen candidates for the Hong Kong election, Central News Agency reported.
Leung, Hong Kong’s current leader who was selected by a committee, urged protesters to be peaceful and law-abiding and called the ruling a milestone for Hong Kong and China.
“We cannot afford to stand still on our constitutional development, or else the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong will be at stake,” he told reporters.
Further Consultation
Leung will hold a second public consultation before introducing a bill to the city’s legislature early next year. He acknowledged it will be difficult to approve the law.Some pro-democracy Hong Kong lawmakers, including the Civic Party’s Ronny Tong, said the proposal would be rejected. To become law, the universal suffrage bill will require two-thirds of the 70-member legislature to support it, meaning the legislation could be halted by the 27 opposition members. If the proposal is rejected, Hong Kong will continue to have its leader picked by a 1,200-member election committee.
“I fear Hong Kong people will just view that they have to take extreme action,” Anson Chan, the city’s former No. 2 official said in a Bloomberg Television interview today. “Too much is at stake. We are fighting for our children’s future.”
Public nomination of candidates -- a demand of some groups -- was also rejected by China as being against the city’s mini-constitution, known as the Basic Law.
U.K. Handover
The legislation was a democratic development and some opponents failed to recognize the central government’s governance rights in Hong Kong, Li said yesterday. The city reverted to China from British rule in 1997.School students and grandmothers were among those who gathered at a rally late yesterday and sat on the grass outside Leung’s office, loudly beating dishes and plates while chanting slogans.
“I’m here to support these students because they are the future,” said Liu Shaoying, a 70-year-old grandmother. China’s government has “lied to us for 30-odd years and I don’t think I will have another 30,” she said.
No comments:
Post a Comment