Jan. 2 - The forces of freedom continue to plague the Chinese communist government as thousands of people in Hong Kong turn out to demand direct elections.

Pro-democracy parties want to maintain the momentum of the summer protests and November's local elections, in which Beijing's representatives were heavily defeated. [Local elections last November saw a decisive defeat for pro-Beijing forces of the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong when the Democratic Party won 95 out of 120 contested wards for the City Council.]

Their next aim is a convincing victory in September's elections for the legislative council which could theoretically give them a majority and the power to block laws proposed by the Beijing-appointed chief executive and his cabinet.

Mr Tsoi, along with the leading democratic parties in Hong Kong, is demanding a swift move to full elections for the legislative council and the chief executive.

Currently, the chief executive, equivalent to the colonial governor, is chosen by China's government, while the council consists of a mixture of members appointed by the chief executive, elected by the people or elected by "functional" constituencies representing special interest groups such as lawyers.

In September, the number of directly elected councillors will increase from 24 to 30 out of 60, raising the possibility that a landslide could give elected democrats, along with the minority of functional representatives who support them, a blocking majority.

But the real attention is on whether China's ruling Communist Party will allow the next chief executive, due to be chosen in 2007, to be elected.

The current chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, a pro-China businessman, has launched a consultation exercise on the pace of reform. China has already indicated that it seeks "gradual" change.

Via Instapundit, another link on the story from the Financial Times.

A link I lost when blogger went down last night was on the jailing of Chinese dissidents who use the internet to publish essays. Also jailed was a man who was imprisoned merely for circulating a petition asking to free one of the dissidents. Cuba and China have so much in common. I'll post the link if I find it again.

Posted by: Debbye at 10:55 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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