H.K. politicians lock into debate over patriotism

Asian Economic News, Feb 17, 2004

HONG KONG, Feb. 13 Kyodo

Hong Kong politicians locked into a debate over patriotism Friday following China's insistence that the former British colony should be governed mainly by ''patriots,'' amid talks over democratization.

''Those who organized the protest against the national security bill under Article 23 are definitely unpatriotic,'' said businessman Tsang Hin-chi, who is a senior Hong Kong member of the National People's Congress, China's legislature.

Tsang, however, said local citizens who joined the 500,000-strong rally July 1 last year should not be considered unpatriotic.

''Szeto Wah, Martin Lee and Cheung Man-kwong -- the diehard democrats -- are not really promoting democracy...I absolutely don't think what they have done are patriotic,'' said Tsang, who opposes direct elections for the chief executive in 2007 and the legislature in 2008.

Szeto, Lee and Cheung are all local lawmakers from the Democratic Party, the largest opposition group calling for full democracy in Hong Kong. The three are also core members of an alliance in support of China's 1989 pro-democracy movement, a group branded by Beijing as ''subversive.''

Rebuking Tsang, Szeto said: ''He doesn't know what it means to love one's country. He simply thinks one is patriotic if he heeds and obeys what (Beijing) says.''

''I believe I have done more patriotic things than he has, even though I have no money to invest (in mainland China),'' Szeto said.

One of organizers of the July 1 march, lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan, slammed Tsang for trying to split the Hong Kong community.

The debate on patriotism, overshadowing the discussion on Hong Kong's political development, was sparked by Beijing's stress on principles of national interests and its authority over the pace of democratization in Hong Kong.

The Chinese authorities, through the official Xinhua News Agency, also spelt out Tuesday that Hong Kong's constitutional development should proceed gradually and that the Hong Kong people who govern the city should be ''patriots.''

Raising further public concern, local media reported a Beijing official questioned the Hong Kong government's task force of political review at their meeting on whether people could be considered patriotic if they oppose legislation against subversion under the Article 23 of the Basic Law, Hong Kong's post-handover Constitution.

Last year, China pressured Hong Kong to enact the antisubversion law to safeguard national security. The Hong Kong administration, however, was subsequently forced to withdraw the bill after half a million people protested against the government and the proposed law amid fears of losing their civil liberties.

Seeking not to complicate the political reform review, Chief Secretary for Administration Donald Tsang told reporters Thursday the discussion on constitutional development and the national security bill issue are ''two completely different topics.''

Tsang said during his talks in Beijing earlier this week, the central authorities expressed hopes the Hong Kong community will have ''in-depth'' and ''rational'' discussion on how to embody the principles of the Basic Law in future political reform.

On Friday, the government's political review task force headed by Tsang continued its meetings with local groups and individuals to listen to their views on principles and legislative process relating to electoral development.

Meanwhile, the democracy camp is trying to coordinate candidates from various democratic parties in a bid to secure half of the legislature's 60 seats in the elections in September, local media reported.

In the forthcoming polls, 30 seats in the legislature will be directly elected and the rest are to be returned by indirect elections through ''functional constituencies'' of different professions.