BY EVA CHENG
On September 5, the Hong Kong government indefinitely shelved its highly controversial anti-subversion law (Article 23 of the Basic Law, the territory's quasi-constitution) after a series of massive protests since December. Article 23 was seen as a means to suppress political dissent.
The biggest protest, on July 1, mobilised 700,000 people. It was the largest political demonstration in Hong Kong since its return to Chinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997. Hong Kong's chief executive Tung Chee-Hwa is "Beijing's man" in Hong Kong though technically he is "elected" by a narrowly defined constituency. The call for Tung to resign was a central slogan of the protests.
China's vice-president Tsang Qinghong said on September 6 that Beijing would "respect" the decision to put Article 23 on hold. But he added that Hong Kong's people "would need to come to terms with, sooner or later":
- the "one country, two systems" formula and "Hong Kong self-rule" (this means accepting that the Beijing regime has the ultimate say);
- "that the Hong Kong population can manage the territory's affairs" (a comment directed against "foreign influence" and international solidarity with the Hong Kong democracy movement);
- that Beijing will give firm support to Hong Kong's development; and
- that Beijing will "uphold the authority of the Hong Kong Special Administration Region government headed by Tung Chee-Hwa" because Hong Kong's political system is hinges on "leadership of the [government] executive".
Tung's excuse for shelving Article 23 was that he would like to hear more views from the Hong Kong public on the subject and that the suspension of the move will help his government to focus on fixing Hong Kong's sagging economy.
From Green Left Weekly, September 17, 2003.
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