Argument over oath develops at constitutional reform forum

 

Property tycoon Sir Gordon Wu Ying-sheng, in the Hong Kong Development Forum on constitutional reform on 26 February called for an end to the debate over patriotism, warning of adverse consequences for relations with Beijing and arguing that the economy should not be neglected. He admonished that "If there are too many arguments about patriotism, it could intimidate Beijing", which may result in Beijing cancelling Cepa and the individual travel scheme. "It may even cut off water supplies", he warned. He likened this political struggle to one seen on the mainland in the 1960s, commenting "They spent so much energy on political struggles that they forgot about the economy. We should concentrate on the economy."

 

Meanwhile, a meeting between the Civil Human Rights Front and the government task force on 26 February were unsuccessful after the group was banned from entering the Central Government Offices with a banner and loudspeaker. A spokeswoman for the Front, Jackie Hung Ling-yu expressed regret and anger over the event. She commented that "it shows that the task force is not sincere in listening to the views of NGOs on constitutional reform" and demanded a public apology from the task force for showing distrust and disrespect to Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).

 

Twenty-eight representatives from the Front, having marched from the HSBC building to the government offices, refused to hand in their banner to government workers. A 45 minute stand-off ensued. Subsequent negotiations also failed to break the deadlock.

 

The Front maintained that the government staff did not have the power to confiscate their property, while the government staff, in constant contact with Chief Secretary Donald Tsang, argued that there was a long-held policy that no tools for protests were allowed in the offices.

 

A government spokesman said that the task force was disappointed but would continue to meet with different NGOs. The Civil Human Rights Front stated that they would continue to demand universal suffrage for the selection of the Chief Executive in 2007 and the elections for the Legislative Council in 2008.

 

This comes amid a debate by mainland and Hong Kong commentators over the potential actions available to the Central Government if the Hong Kong geographical elections in September return thirty legislators hostile to Beijing. On 25 February Zhang Tonxin, director of Renmin University's Center for Studies of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau in Beijing, admonished that the Central Government had the power to dissolve the Legislative Council if it were filled with politicians who antagonised Beijing. On 26 February, a former mainland drafter of the Basic Law refuted this claim yesterday. Xu Chonde argued that LegCo could not be dissolved simply on the grounds that some of the Legislators did not meet the criteria for patriots.