Democracy protests make China leaders 'lose trust' in Hong Kong

Wed, 06 Jan 2010

Hong Kong - Chinese leaders have "lost trust in Hong Kong" after New Year's Day scuffles between police and activists at a pro-democracy demonstration, a pro-Beijing politician said Wednesday. Cheng Yiu-tong, a member of Chief Executive Donald Tsang's executive council, said the Beijing government was "shocked" at the scenes outside the Beijing Liaison Office on January 1.

An estimated 30,000 people took part in a pro-democracy march which ended with a handful of activists trying to force their way through a police blockade to the Chinese government's representative office.

Two police officers and one protester suffered slight injuries in the fracas. Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Cheng suggested the incident had altered China's view on the former British colony.

Chen said Beijing now feared pro-democracy advocates in Hong Kong had "changed their strategy" to target the Chinese government instead of the Hong Kong administration.

He said he believed the scuffles outside the Beijing Liaison Office undermined the administration's credibility and would prompt Beijing to reassess democratic development in Hong Kong.

Cheng added that the incident would "not be helpful to the discussion between Hong Kong and Beijing over giving the territory greater democracy."

The remarks by Cheng, who is viewed as having close contacts with the central government in Beijing, came as Hong Kong is embroiled in a debate over proposed constitutional reforms.

Pro-democracy legislators and activists are fighting proposals by the Beijing-appointed administration for reforms which they say do not go far enough towards universal suffrage.

Hong Kong, which reverted to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, was technically entitled to full democracy from 2007 under the terms of its mini-constitution.

However, Beijing has already intervened to rule out universal suffrage until at least 2020, saying that the city of 7 million is still too politically immature.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/302297,democracy-protests-make-china-leaders-lose-trust-in-hong-kong.html.