Beijing, through pressure tactics, is signalling its objection to direct elections in Hong Kong scheduled to occur in 2007. This comes in the wake of the 500,000-strong demonstration that occurred on July 1, 2003 when the people of Hong Kong demonstrated against the national security law that was imposed by its highly unpopular chief executive, Tung Chee Hwa.
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“For nearly two weeks now – in news releases, on official media websites, in meetings, and in statements by pro-Beijing politicians, business tycoons, and legal scholars – the word is going out that only those who ‘love the motherland and “One Country”‘ can be trusted ‘with the security, stability, and development’ of the country, as the official China Daily put it last week.”
“The campaign seems like a wet rag applied to recent enthusiasm for universal suffrage in Hong Kong, and critics say it is being used to dampen support for direct elections in 2007, which are permitted under Hong Kong’s Basic Law. The Hong Kong government and Beijing were caught off guard last July by 500,000 peaceful protesters demonstrating against a national security law imposed by the unpopular Tung Che Hwa, chief executive of Hong Kong selected by Beijing. Since that time a democracy movement has unexpectedly gained force and stature inside the city. Hong Kong voters showed up in record numbers in a district election last November, putting out of power a number of top pro-Beijing politicians.”
