Loyalists raise volume on reform proposals
Beijing loyalists are redoubling efforts to drum up support for the government's proposed constitutional reform, placing newspaper advertisements and scrambling for slots to speak in a Legislative Council public hearing.
Also, the liaison office of the central government in Hong Kong has made the unusual move of lobbying the Chinese Manufacturers' Association to support the proposal, cautioning it against doing 'risky things'.
In a statement published in several Chinese-language newspapers, the Professionals and Senior Executives Association said the proposed reform would 'broaden democratic participation'.
The group, headed by financial consultant Samuel Yung Wing-ki, was lobbied by Chief Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen on Monday.
Meanwhile, a group of second-generation tycoons in the Y. Elites Group also put their weight behind the proposal, adding that the public should not decide now whether to scrap functional seats when universal suffrage is introduced in 2020.
The advertisements followed another placed earlier by government-appointed district councillors, who supported the reform proposal.
Four officials of the liaison office, led by co-ordination department head Shen Chong , visited president Paul Yin Tek-shing and vice-presidents of the Chinese Manufacturers' Association for 1? hours.
Shen called on the manufacturers' association, which has one functional constituency seat in Legco, to support the government's proposal.
Yin said after the meeting: '[Shen] said the central government highly regarded Hong Kong's economic development, and that it hoped the city's political system could progress in a gradual and orderly manner because democracy could not be achieved overnight.
'He also told us not to do risky things, saying it wouldn't do good for the country if chaos arose in Hong Kong.'
A politician close to Beijing said the intensified publicity aimed to create the impression that 'everybody in society supports the proposal'.
A total of 188 groups or individuals have requested to speak at a public hearing to be held by the Legco constitutional affairs panel tomorrow.
Democrat Cheung Man-kwong, whose Professional Teachers' Union will be among the few pan-democrat groups attending the meeting, expressed an urgent need for the camp to raise awareness of 'how undemocratic' the proposal was.
