Beijing is backing Hong Kong's chief executive, an aide said a day after a commentary in a Chinese newspaper chided Tung Chee-hwa (
Public frustration with the unpopular Tung, handpicked by Beijing after Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule in 1997, has fueled growing demands for full democracy in the past year, alarming leaders in Beijing.
"The Chinese government, especially the top leaders, has always been sending a clear message that it supports the Hong Kong government led by Mr Tung," said Cheng Yiu-tong (鄭耀棠), a member of Tung's Cabinet and a pro-Beijing politician.
He was responding to an article by Lau Nai-keung (劉迺強), a Hong Kong member of the Chinese People's Political and Consultative Conference (CPPCC), published in the Hong Kong edition of China Daily on Monday. The CPPCC is an advisory body to China's parliament.
"Our government is getting weaker by the day, and with universal suffrage put on hold, it becomes easy to convince a growing number of people that even our next government is likely to be as inept," Lau wrote.
The rare criticism of Tung in an official Chinese paper is likely to rekindle speculation that Beijing may sack him or convince him to resign for health reasons in a bid to defuse growing tensions in the city of nearly 7 million people.
But others believe such a move by Beijing would be unlikely because it would be seen as meddling too overtly in the former British colony's affairs.
China promised Hong Kong that it would retain a high degree of autonomy when it reverted to Chinese control, but, fearful of losing political control, it has increasingly stamped its authority over the city in recent months.
Chinese officials have embarked on a campaign to discredit pro-democracy advocates before crucial legislative elections in September.
"As for the recent debate on constitutional development, Tung appeared to have been side-stepped by the central government," Lau wrote. "Tung has become even more elusive, and more distant from the public."
He criticized the government's handling of the recent resignations of three popular radio talkshow hosts critical of Beijing, noting these had led to "all sorts of speculation."
Two of the broadcasters said they had received death threats, adding to concerns that Beijing was suppressing freedom of speech. China has denied any role in the resignations.
"The government, and in particular the chief executive, should have come out early to issue firmer statements and take sterner actions to dispel speculation," Lau wrote. "And this is the job of the government which cannot be taken over by the central [Chinese] government," Lau said.
Beijing is already preparing for what it would see as a worst-case scenario -- a victory by pro-democracy forces in the September legislative elections, Hong Kong's Sing Tao newspaper said yesterday, quoting unidentified sources close to China.
It is sending a large number of officials, academics and researchers to Hong Kong to consult on whether a democratic majority would paralyze the local government, the newspaper said.
ANGER: A video shared online showed residents in a neighborhood confronting the national security minister, attempting to drag her toward floodwaters Argentina’s port city of Bahia Blanca has been “destroyed” after being pummeled by a year’s worth of rain in a matter of hours, killing 13 and driving hundreds from their homes, authorities said on Saturday. Two young girls — reportedly aged four and one — were missing after possibly being swept away by floodwaters in the wake of Friday’s storm. The deluge left hospital rooms underwater, turned neighborhoods into islands and cut electricity to swaths of the city. Argentine Minister of National Security Patricia Bullrich said Bahia Blanca was “destroyed.” The death toll rose to 13 on Saturday, up from 10 on Friday, authorities
Local officials from Russia’s ruling party have caused controversy by presenting mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine with gifts of meat grinders, an appliance widely used to describe Russia’s brutal tactics on the front line. The United Russia party in the northern Murmansk region posted photographs on social media showing officials smiling as they visited bereaved mothers with gifts of flowers and boxed meat grinders for International Women’s Day on Saturday, which is widely celebrated in Russia. The post included a message thanking the “dear moms” for their “strength of spirit and the love you put into bringing up your sons.” It
DEBT BREAK: Friedrich Merz has vowed to do ‘whatever it takes’ to free up more money for defense and infrastructure at a time of growing geopolitical uncertainty Germany’s likely next leader Friedrich Merz was set yesterday to defend his unprecedented plans to massively ramp up defense and infrastructure spending in the Bundestag as lawmakers begin debating the proposals. Merz unveiled the plans last week, vowing his center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) bloc and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) — in talks to form a coalition after last month’s elections — would quickly push them through before the end of the current legislature. Fraying Europe-US ties under US President Donald Trump have fueled calls for Germany, long dependent on the US security umbrella, to quickly
In front of a secluded temple in southwestern China, Duan Ruru skillfully executes a series of chops and strikes, practicing kung fu techniques she has spent a decade mastering. Chinese martial arts have long been considered a male-dominated sphere, but a cohort of Generation Z women like Duan is challenging that assumption and generating publicity for their particular school of kung fu. “Since I was little, I’ve had a love for martial arts... I thought that girls learning martial arts was super swaggy,” Duan, 23, said. The ancient Emei school where she trains in the mountains of China’s Sichuan Province
RSS