Five organizers of a massive pro-democracy rally in Hong Kong were charged by police yesterday with a range of minor offences, as pressure builds on Chinese Communist Party rulers in Beijing to introduce political reforms in the former British colony.
The pro-democracy march on Tuesday, which organizers said attracted more than half a million people, and a subsequent sit-in by mainly student groups rank among the biggest challenges yet to China since the July 1, 1997, handover.
Police said the charges brought against the organizers included failure to comply with instructions from a police officer, obstructing officers performing their duties, leaving a running vehicle and providing false information to an officer. Police did not name those charged.
Photo: AFP
“This is political persecution,” Civil Human Rights Front vice convenor Icarus Wong (王浩賢) said. “Five-hundred ten-thousand people marched ... the government’s response is to arrest the organizers.”
Wong said police arrested Civil Human Rights Front convenor Johnson Yeung (楊政賢), the group’s treasurer, a driver, and two volunteer workers.
Wong said one charge — that of providing false information — brought against one of the organizers was for giving police the incorrect number for a street address, though the correct street name was provided.
The July 1 march is an annual event that marks Hong Kong’s return to China as a special administrative region under a “one country, two systems” policy that gives it wide-ranging autonomy and a separate legal system.
This year, however, the march followed an unofficial referendum on democracy in which nearly 800,000 voted, and led to an overnight sit-in in Hong Kong’s Central business district. Police arrested more than 500 people early on Wednesday after they sat down and refused to leave.
Tensions escalated again on Thursday when lawmakers pelted Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying (梁振英) with objects during a Legislative Council meeting, and shouted for democratic reforms.
Meanwhile, China’s top newspaper yesterday dismissed fears that the territory’s autonomy was being eroded, saying Beijing’s policy had not and would not change.
In a front page commentary, the People’s Daily said the white paper Beijing published last month was proof that China was committed to Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy.
“Some people think that the white paper deviated from the basic policy the center [of the party] first proposed, and others worry about whether the center will squeeze Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy,” it wrote. “This is all totally baseless.”
Critics of the white paper say its assertion of China’s “comprehensive jurisdiction” over Hong Kong, as well as its requirement that the territory’s “administrators,” including judges, be patriotic, are violations of the Basic Law and the agreement that China signed with Britain which paved the way for the handover.
The newspaper admitted that in the 1980s, when Beijing came up with its proposals for Hong Kong, some people in the territory feared China’s changing its position.
But since former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) promised the high degree of autonomy and it was written into Hong Kong’s Basic Law, country’s leaders have never veered from this course, it said.
“Experience proves the center keeps its promises, and the center’s basic policy toward Hong Kong is completely correct,” it said.
SEA WARNING LIKELY: The storm, named Gaemi, could become a moderate typhoon on Wednesday or Thursday, with the Taipei City Government preparing for flooding A tropical depression east of the Philippines developed into a tropical storm named Gaemi at 2pm yesterday, and was moving toward eastern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Gaemi could begin to affect Taiwan proper on Tuesday, lasting until Friday, and could develop into a moderate typhoon on Wednesday or Thursday, it said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued as early as Tuesday morning, it added. Gaemi, the third tropical storm in the Pacific Ocean this typhoon season, is projected to begin moving northwest today, and be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday, the agency said. Today, there would likely
Tropical Storm Gaemi strengthened into a typhoon at 2pm yesterday, and could make landfall in Yilan County tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The agency was scheduled to issue a sea warning at 11:30pm yesterday, and could issue a land warning later today. Gaemi was moving north-northwest at 4kph, carrying maximum sustained winds near its center of up to 118.8kph and gusts of 154.8kph. The circumference is forecast to reach eastern Taiwan tomorrow morning, with the center making landfall in Yilan County later that night before departing from the north coast, CWA weather forecaster Kuan Shin-ping (官欣平) said yesterday. Uncertainty remains and
CHIPS AND DEFENSE: Trump said the US had lost its chip business and Taipei should pay it for defense, and added that ‘we’re no different than an insurance company’ Taiwan-US relations are solid, and both sides are in agreement that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific region are everyone’s concern, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday following comments by former US president Donald Trump that Taiwan “should pay” for US defense. Taiwan is thankful to the US for supporting Taiwan’s bid to participate in international organizations, Cho told a news conference in Taipei. “I know the people very well, respect them greatly. They did take about 100 percent of our chip business,” Trump told Bloomberg on June 25 in an interview that was published on Tuesday. “I think
SHOW OF SUPPORT: Taiwan has been one of the largest buyers of US defense equipment, supporting American businesses and jobs, US lawmakers said Taiwan has been paying for its own defense, a US Department of State official said on Wednesday, adding that purchases of military equipment are important to the US economy and for ensuring regional security. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller was asked at a news conference about comments by former US president Donald Trump, the Republican nominee in November’s US presidential election, who said during an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek that Taiwan should pay Washington for its defense needs. “The purchases that they [Taiwan] have made not only are important, we believe, to regional security, but are important to the United States economy,”