Beijing's plan to dictate policy on political reform in Hong Kong will stifle the push for democracy and undermine the territory's rule of law, critics charged.
"If they cannot twist people's wishes, they will twist the law," said Law Yuk-kai, director of the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, a non-governmental organization.
China stunned Hong Kong by saying Friday night that its most powerful legislative panel would "interpret" provisions of Hong Kong's mini-constitution that spell out how the territory's leader and lawmakers are chosen.
That effectively means Beijing will set the pace for any political reforms. Pro-democracy figures believe Beijing is deliberately quashing their hopes that Hong Kong people could choose their leader and all lawmakers in the next few years.
"It completely kills the discussion on democratic reforms in Hong Kong," said labor activist and lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan.
Pro-democracy activists plan a candlelight vigil on Thursday against Beijing's plan, while a small group of young people protested outside China's representative office in Hong Kong yesterday.
Hong Kong's people are demanding more democracy -- in a system that currently gives them no say on picking their leader though ordinary residents choose some lawmakers. Full democracy was set out as an eventual goal when Hong Kong was returned from Britain to China in July 1997, but there is no timetable.
The push for universal suffrage gained momentum on July 1, when 500,000 people marched and forced Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa (董建華) to withdraw an anti-subversion bill that many viewed as a threat to freedom.
The protest launched a "people power" movement that rattled Tung and left Beijing unsettled. Now, Tung and Beijing are fretting over legislative elections in September, when ordinary voters can fill 30 of the 60 seats, up from 24 last time.
Special interest groups choose the rest, an arrangement that previously has ensured the Legislative Council will support Tung's government. This time, it's possible Hong Kong will get a legislature that won't back Tung.
China's state-run Xinhua News Agency said Friday night that the powerful Standing Committee of the National People's Congress plans soon to "give interpretations" on Hong Kong's mini-constitution relating to the selection of the territory's leader and legislators.
Xinhua quoted a Chinese legal expert as saying the interpretation will have "the same kind of power as the Basic Law itself."
Tung had been informed just hours earlier, but he contended Beijing's involvement would provide a welcome resolution to the raging controversy over democracy.
"By doing this they will be able to help us to move forward in our discussion, to avoid endless wrangling," Tung told a brief news conference, flanked by his chief secretary, his justice secretary and his constitutional affairs secretary.
Beijing's plans to issue a legal "interpretation" of the law recalled its decision to overturn Hong Kong's top court in a 1999 immigration case.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
RSS