Tens of thousands gathered yesterday in sweltering heat in Hong Kong to protest against a pro-democracy campaign that has threatened to shut down the territory’s financial district, exposing a deepening rift over political reforms in the former British colony.
The rise in tit-for-tat street protests between pro-Beijing and pro-democracy groups accents the challenges China faces in shaping Hong Kong’s political future.
Backed largely by Beijing-friendly groups, Hong Kong’s Alliance for Peace and Democracy says it “desires peace and no violence” and has denounced the pro-democracy Occupy Central movement that has said it would lock down the city center if Beijing does not allow truly democratic elections for a chief executive in 2017.
Photo: Reuters
“We want to show that the march does not have to be violent and angry. It can be happy,” former Hong Kong radio host and spokesman for the alliance Robert Chow said.
The group says it has so far collected close to 1.5 million signatures, including that of Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying (梁振英), saying the “illegal” Occupy campaign would tarnish Hong Kong’s reputation and hurt business.
It was not possible to independently verify the claim, which exceeded the almost 800,000 votes in Occupy Central’s unofficial poll on democracy in June.
Photo: AFP
The campaign kicked off early yesterday with a run through the center of Hong Kong that drew about 1,500 people in temperatures as high as 30°C, organizers said.
The rally was overshadowed by speculation that some business groups had pressured people to take part.
One Chinese participant surnamed Chen, who is in her 60s, said some people attended simply because they like running.
Photo: AFP
“I bumped into a friend. She is running with colleagues from a property-management firm. She said her firm encouraged her to run and she took part because she likes running,” she said.
More people, mostly groups of elderly people, showed up later in the morning to offer a flower “for peace,” with different groups wearing the same colored T-shirts and hats.
Occupy Central has said its movement is peaceful, demanding a “genuine choice” for Hong Kong’s 5 million eligible voters.
“We do not support Occupy Central because it will bring trouble and instability to the city,” retiree Law Kwai-wing, 77, said, adding that he had traveled across the border from China’s Guangdong Province as part of a bus tour organized by the pro-Beijing Federation of Trade Unions (FTU).
The group planned to stay for less than an hour before returning across the border for lunch, which tour members would buy for themselves, he added.
Many participants said that they had been provided with free transportation by political and business groups. In one district, about 150 people boarded buses organized by the Hong Kong Livestock Industry Association.
In a WhatsApp message seen by reporters, people were offered HK$350 (US$45) to attend the rally “for five hours.” However, the message sender declined to provide their name or background.
Alliance spokesman Chow dismissed such messages as fake and attempts to discredit the campaign.
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Taiwan must capitalize on the shock waves DeepSeek has sent through US markets to show it is a tech partner of Washington, a researcher said China’s reported breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) would prompt the US to seek a stronger alliance with Taiwan and Japan to secure its technological superiority, a Taiwanese researcher said yesterday. The launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek (深度求索) on Monday sent US tech stocks tumbling, with chipmaker Nvidia Corp losing 16 percent of its value and the NASDAQ falling 612.46 points, or 3.07 percent, to close at 19,341.84 points. On the same day, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Sector index dropped 488.7 points, or 9.15 percent, to close at 4,853.24 points. The launch of the Chinese chatbot proves that a competitor can
‘VERY SHALLOW’: The center of Saturday’s quake in Tainan’s Dongshan District hit at a depth of 7.7km, while yesterday’s in Nansai was at a depth of 8.1km, the CWA said Two magnitude 5.7 earthquakes that struck on Saturday night and yesterday morning were aftershocks triggered by a magnitude 6.4 quake on Tuesday last week, a seismologist said, adding that the epicenters of the aftershocks are moving westward. Saturday and yesterday’s earthquakes occurred as people were preparing for the Lunar New Year holiday this week. As of 10am yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) recorded 110 aftershocks from last week’s main earthquake, including six magnitude 5 to 6 quakes and 32 magnitude 4 to 5 tremors. Seventy-one of the earthquakes were smaller than magnitude 4. Thirty-one of the aftershocks were felt nationwide, while 79
RSS