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Doubts over HK security law
From CNN's Senior Asia Correspondent Mike Chinoy
HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- A pro-Beijing lawmaker has expressed doubts about the future of a proposed anti-subversion bill in Hong Kong. Speaking on local radio, Executive Councillor Tsang Yok-sing said he doesn't know when the recently-deferred bill will be presented to lawmakers – or if it will be presented at all. Under a blazing sun, thousands of demonstrators packed the city on Sunday in the third such protest in less than two weeks. Protesters are demanding the removal of Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, and the right to choose their own leader. What began as an outpouring of anger over a proposed national security law has become a full-blown crisis for the city's Beijing-appointed Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa, and the territory's restrictive political system. Many fear the law will lead to human rights abuses here similar to those throughout mainland China. Hong Kong reverted to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 after 150 years as a British colony and Beijing promised to preserve Hong Kong's freedoms after the handover. This arrangement is called "One Country, Two Systems." "We want to promote democracy and more specifically we want universal suffrage for both the CE, Chief Executive ... and all the members of the legislative council," Louis Shih of the Democracy Development Network told CNN. The Chief Executive is chosen by an 800-member election committee vetted by Beijing, while fewer than half the members of the legislature are directly elected. And while many Hong Kong people would like to see Tung -- who is highly unpopular -- resign, there's a growing chorus of voices saying much more is needed. "The important thing is to have a proper system. It's not enough to change a person...because you can have another person who's just as bad or even worse than the previous one," opposition legislator Audrey Eu says. Alarmed by the emergence of a people-power style democracy movement on the streets here, the Chinese government has sent dozens of officials to Hong Kong in recent days in an attempt to figure out why Tung is so unpopular, and what Beijing should do about it. It's a dilemma. Sanctioning Tung's departure or accepting political reform in Hong Kong would send a message throughout China that street protests can produce results. But hanging tough could well fuel the movement here. "If the government does not hurry up with electoral and democratic reform, there will be more rallies, more protests," Eu says. Even though the largely middle class demonstrators have been peaceful, low-key, polite and well-behaved, for a regime that has crushed even the most modest calls for political reform in mainland China, what's happening here could reverberate well beyond the streets of Hong Kong.
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