Hong Kong protesters are threatening to give the city's Beijing masters a taste of the thing they fear most, a mass show of public dissent.
Several hundred thousand people are expected to march through the streets next Thursday to demand greater democracy for the territory.
The protest will come exactly a year after about half a million people staged an anti-government rally in Hong Kong, shocking the Chinese Communist Party that traditionally brooks no dissent in China.
Beijing has shown greater tolerance lately. China's vice president and point man on Hong Kong affairs, Zeng Qinghong (
Hong Kong's government echoed his remarks on Thursday, pledging continued freedom of expression in the city.
Many in Hong Kong are angry after Beijing ruled out full and free elections in the near future and accuse China of breaking a promise to allow the city wide-ranging autonomy.
"Beijing has rejected universal suffrage, but we can't just sit and wait. We have to keep pressing, it is our right," said Saphire Ho, a sales executive who plans to join Thursday's march.
A large turnout will embarrass Beijing on the seventh anniversary of Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule and to heighten Communist Party fears that it could lose control of the city.
It will also be a barometer of popular support for pro-democracy forces before legislative elections in September. Pro-democracy parties hope to wrest control of Hong Kong's top lawmaking body from pro-China figures to strengthen their campaign for more political reform.
Organizers expect 300,000 people to demonstrate for the right to directly elect their own leader and all of their lawmakers from 2007, demands that Beijing rejected in April.
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
‘ONE BRIDGE’: The US president-elect met with Akie Abe on Dec. 15 in Florida and the two discussed a potential Taiwan-China conflict’s implications for world peace US president-elect Donald Trump has described Taiwan as “a major issue for world peace” during a meeting with Akie Abe, the widow of late Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, Japanese newspaper the Yomiuri Shimbun quoted sources as saying in a report yesterday. Trump met with Akie Abe on Dec. 15 at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where the two discussed the Russo-Ukrainian war and the situation in the Taiwan Strait. During the meeting, Trump spoke on the implications for world peace of a potential Taiwan-China conflict, which “indicated his administration’s stance of placing importance on dealing with the situation in
QUICK LOOK: The amendments include stricter recall requirements and Constitutional Court procedures, as well as a big increase in local governments’ budgets Portions of controversial amendments to tighten requirements for recalling officials and Constitutional Court procedures were passed by opposition lawmakers yesterday following clashes between lawmakers in the morning, as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members tried to block Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators from entering the chamber. Parts of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) and Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) passed the third reading yesterday. The legislature was still voting on various amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) as of press time last night, after the session was extended to midnight. Amendments to Article 4
ALLIANCE: Washington continues to implement its policy of normalizing arms sales to Taiwan and helps enhance its defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said US President Joe Biden on Friday agreed to provide US$571.3 million in defense support for Taiwan, the White House said, while the US State Department approved the potential sale of US$265 million in military equipment. Biden had delegated to the secretary of state the authority “to direct the drawdown of up to US$571.3 million in defense articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training, to provide assistance to Taiwan,” the White House said in a statement. However, it did not provide specific details about this latest package, which was the third of its kind to
RSS