Tens of thousands of protesters are expected to march in Hong Kong's streets today to demand full democracy in the territory.
The protest comes as public discontent mounts against the government's latest proposal for political reforms -- changes that many believe don't go far enough. Pro-democracy lawmakers want the government to give a timeline for when voters will be given the right to directly elect the city's leader and entire legislature.
Analysts predict today's march will draw between 50,000 and 100,000 people. The turnout will be closely watched by the Hong Kong and Chinese governments, both of whom have gone on a public relations offensive to dampen enthusiasm for the protest.
Beijing is eager to maintain stability in Hong Kong, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997. Two massive pro-democracy marches helped trigger the territory's first leadership change since the handover. Both protests -- in 2003 and last year -- drew half a million people demanding the right to pick their leader and all lawmakers.
In the past few weeks, both the pro-democracy and the pro-Beijing camps have spent lavishly to take out prominent newspaper advertisements in a bid to influence public opinion and today's turnout.
Yesterday, an ad signed by 20 pro-democracy lawmakers reading "Fight for democracy, make history" and "Hong Kong people cannot be kept waiting definitely" was posted in many major papers.
The government's political reform package calls for doubling the size of the 800-member committee that picks the territory's leader. The reforms also propose expanding the 60-member legislature. Half the members are directly elected, while the other half are selected by interest groups.
In a rare televised address days ahead of the planned protest, Chief Executive Donald Tsang (
"Donald Tsang uses scare tactics," read a front-page headline in the mass-market Apple Daily a day after Tsang's speech.
Beijing also took the unusual step of inviting prominent pro-democracy lawmakers to discuss political reforms with senior Chinese officials in Shenzhen.
After Friday's meeting, deputy secretary-general of the National People's Congress (NPC) Qiao Xiaoyang (喬曉陽), stood firm on the moderate reform package but encouraged discussion of a timetable for democratization.
Another Chinese official, Xu Jialu (
"If Hong Kong people want to march, they have that freedom. Let them march," Xu, vice chairman of the NPC's standing committee, said in Beijing.
One of today's march organizers, pro-democracy Legislator Lee Cheuk-yan (
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
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