Hong Kong rises in revolt
2 July 2012 7:24 AM GMT
Defiant protesters targeted China's President Hu Jintao in Hong Kong on Sunday as the former British colony swore in a new leader and marked the 15th anniversary of its return to Chinese rule.
‘I vow to defend the Hong Kong... Basic Law,’ new Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, a millionaire property consultant seen as close to China's communist rulers, said as he read out the oath before shaking hands with Hu.
The Basic Law is Hong Kong's mini-constitution, which guarantees the former British colony civil liberties unheard of on the mainland under the ‘one country, two systems’ model set up when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
But Hu's visit and the inauguration came as discontent towards Beijing surges to a new post-handover high in Hong Kong, and security has been stifling for the events, with hundreds of police and giant barricades deployed.
Even so as the president began his own speech to around 2,300 guests in a harbour-front convention hall, a protester repeatedly shouted ‘end one-party rule’.
The man also referred to the crushing of democracy protests on Tienanmen Square in Beijing on 4 June 1989, and was rapidly surrounded and taken away as the audience drowned him out with extended applause for Hu's opening remarks.
The Chinese president said that Beijing's support for ‘one country, two systems’ and the right of the people of Hong Kong to rule the territory was ‘unwavering’.
‘We will follow the Basic Law... to continue to advance democratic development in Hong Kong,’ said Hu, who will step down as part of a once-a-decade leadership transition in Beijing starting this year.
However, Hong Kong does not yet enjoy universal suffrage to elect its leader, and Leung was elected as chief executive in March by a special committee stacked with pro-Beijing business elites.
Protesters have been demanding greater democracy and railing against Beijing's meddling in local affairs.
Ahead of the inauguration, a group of demonstrators outside a nearby building burned Leung's portrait, shouting: ‘Battle the Communist Party! We will battle to the end!’ In another protest, marchers held aloft a mock red coffin bearing the words in Chinese: ‘The Liaison Office [Beijing's representative] governs Hong Kong.’
Hu had earlier been expected to attend a flag-raising ceremony on Hong Kong's iconic waterfront.
PRESIDENT HU LOCKED IN EPIC BATTLE
Ahead of major leadership changes in China's ruling Communist party, an ‘epic battle’ for control of the three million-strong military has broken out with President Hu Jintao attempting to stay in charge of the powerful PLA, a media report claimed on Sunday.
‘An epic battle for control of the People's Liberation Army [PLA] has broken out as the power struggle in China enters a new phase,’ The Sunday Times reported, as Hu visited Hong Kong to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the handover of the territory from British rule.
‘At its centre [of the epic battle] is President Hu,’ the paper quoted its Chinese sources as saying in Hong Kong who have been briefed on Communist party affairs.
Hu, 69, is attempting to stay in charge of the military as Chairman of the Central Military Commission after he steps down later this year as President and as head of the Communist party, the report said. The CPC, which has maintained its hold on political power since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, is expected to undergo major leadership changes with Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao retiring at the 18th Party Congress later this year.
‘I vow to defend the Hong Kong... Basic Law,’ new Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, a millionaire property consultant seen as close to China's communist rulers, said as he read out the oath before shaking hands with Hu.
The Basic Law is Hong Kong's mini-constitution, which guarantees the former British colony civil liberties unheard of on the mainland under the ‘one country, two systems’ model set up when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
But Hu's visit and the inauguration came as discontent towards Beijing surges to a new post-handover high in Hong Kong, and security has been stifling for the events, with hundreds of police and giant barricades deployed.
Even so as the president began his own speech to around 2,300 guests in a harbour-front convention hall, a protester repeatedly shouted ‘end one-party rule’.
The man also referred to the crushing of democracy protests on Tienanmen Square in Beijing on 4 June 1989, and was rapidly surrounded and taken away as the audience drowned him out with extended applause for Hu's opening remarks.
The Chinese president said that Beijing's support for ‘one country, two systems’ and the right of the people of Hong Kong to rule the territory was ‘unwavering’.
‘We will follow the Basic Law... to continue to advance democratic development in Hong Kong,’ said Hu, who will step down as part of a once-a-decade leadership transition in Beijing starting this year.
However, Hong Kong does not yet enjoy universal suffrage to elect its leader, and Leung was elected as chief executive in March by a special committee stacked with pro-Beijing business elites.
Protesters have been demanding greater democracy and railing against Beijing's meddling in local affairs.
Ahead of the inauguration, a group of demonstrators outside a nearby building burned Leung's portrait, shouting: ‘Battle the Communist Party! We will battle to the end!’ In another protest, marchers held aloft a mock red coffin bearing the words in Chinese: ‘The Liaison Office [Beijing's representative] governs Hong Kong.’
Hu had earlier been expected to attend a flag-raising ceremony on Hong Kong's iconic waterfront.
PRESIDENT HU LOCKED IN EPIC BATTLE
Ahead of major leadership changes in China's ruling Communist party, an ‘epic battle’ for control of the three million-strong military has broken out with President Hu Jintao attempting to stay in charge of the powerful PLA, a media report claimed on Sunday.
‘An epic battle for control of the People's Liberation Army [PLA] has broken out as the power struggle in China enters a new phase,’ The Sunday Times reported, as Hu visited Hong Kong to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the handover of the territory from British rule.
‘At its centre [of the epic battle] is President Hu,’ the paper quoted its Chinese sources as saying in Hong Kong who have been briefed on Communist party affairs.
Hu, 69, is attempting to stay in charge of the military as Chairman of the Central Military Commission after he steps down later this year as President and as head of the Communist party, the report said. The CPC, which has maintained its hold on political power since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, is expected to undergo major leadership changes with Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao retiring at the 18th Party Congress later this year.
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