Hong Kong’s Leung Wins Support on Protests as Xi Cites Poem

By Fion Li  

Photographer: Wang Zhao/Pool/Getty Images

Hong Kong's Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying speaks as he takes part in a summit... Read More

Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying is having his best day since pro-democracy protests started almost seven weeks ago.
Chinese President Xi Jinping backed Leung’s handling of the protests in a Beijing meeting yesterday, and China today approved the start of a stock market link between Hong Kong and Shanghai for Nov. 17.
The support shows China is refusing to heed demonstrators who have blamed Leung for the row over free elections in the city in 2017. Former Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa today made his third appeal for the end of the protests, and warned the government won’t
tolerate the occupation of key streets for the long term.
“I urge protesters and pro-democracy friends to end the Occupy protests now,’” Tung, who ran Hong Kong after the handover in 1997 to 2005, said. “You have given a lot in the quest for democracy, but the Hong Kong people may not want to give more.”
In a closed-door meeting with Leung, Xi cited a line from a poem used by Chinese emperors to praise loyal ministers in difficult times, the South China Morning Post reported, citing an unidentified person. The line, “strong winds reveal the strength of sturdy grass,” is seen as praise for Leung’s resilience in handling the protests, the newspaper said.

People’s Demands

Protest leaders have been calling on Leung to resign, and last week in an open letter said his government hasn’t represented the demands of the people for democracy to China.
China ruled on Aug. 31 that candidates for the city’s top job must be vetted by a nomination committee, raising the ire of protesters who see it as a form of control. Leung had said that the city’s de facto constitution states that the chief executive should be picked through “universal suffrage upon nomination by a broadly representative nominating committee.”
The demonstrations, kick started on Sept. 26 when student leaders stormed the premises of the Hong Kong government headquarters, are the biggest challenge to China’s sovereignty of the city since its return in 1997 from British colonial rule.
Protesters have struggled with waning crowds and dissent among leaders in the past two weeks. A poll commissioned by Ming Pao newspaper released today showed 70 percent of the respondents wanted the street occupation to end. About 82 percent of the 1,005 people surveyed said they hadn’t participated in the demonstrations.

Court Ruling

Pressure on the demonstrators may further increase. The city’s High Court will this afternoon rule on suits brought by bus companies against protesters for occupying roads and obstructing traffic.
The court last month gave interim civil injunctions awarding plaintiffs the right to remove barricades. Demonstrators have so far resisted the attempts, resulting in scuffles at Mong Kok, one of the three key areas.
China supports the city’s democratic development “within the law,” Leung said after his meeting with Xi in Beijing.
“Occupy Central has impacted Hong Kong’s rule of law and severely affected social order,” Leung said. “But I am confident that under the support of all sectors in Hong Kong, the special administrative government can handle the Occupy Central and related events by its own ability and laws.”
Credit Suisse cut its forecast for Hong Kong’s economic growth for the year to 2 percent from 2.2 percent.

Stock Connect

Regulators in China and Hong Kong today issued a joint statement saying bourses in the two cities will begin trading on next week through a stock connect program, which will allow a net 23.5 billion yuan ($3.8 billion) a day in cross-border purchases. The statement ends weeks of speculation, with concern rising that the protests had impacted on its start date.
The Hong Kong Federation of Students, one of the key groups behind the demonstrations, has been seeking help from politicians to arrange meetings to bring their demand directly to officials in Beijing. Tung, currently vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the nation’s top advisory body, over the weekend rejected their request.
“We would like to see whether there’s any chance for dialogue,” Alex Chow, the secretary general of the federation, told reporters yesterday. The “mechanism” governing how Hong Kong is ruled, and the city’s government are obstacles to reform, he said.