People’s Daily slams Hong Kong democracy demands as ‘impossible, ridiculous’ ahead of July 1 march
Hong Kong 'does not have the power to determine its political system on its own', says Communist Party mouthpiece
The Communist Party’s mouthpiece has dismissed the key demands of pro-democracy groups in Hong Kong as “impossible and ridiculous”, a day before a planned July 1 democracy march in the city.
The article’s writer was identified as Wang Ping, a reporter of the .
“While the recent political reform has ended in Hong Kong, the controversies have not, and the opposition has been making demands such as ‘restarting the political reform [exercise], abolishing the national legislature’s 831 [August 31, 2014] decision, and amending the Basic Law’, which they know are impossible to be satisfied.”
Those demands were made by various pan-democrat lawmakers, and were adopted as the theme of the July 1 march in Hong Kong organised by the Civil Human Rights Front.
The article also dismissed those calls as “ridiculous” and emphasised that Hong Kong “does not have the power to determine its political system on its own”.
“It is a special administrative region in China … and the central government has the decisive power on Hong Kong political reform,” the article read. “It is a blessing, not a curse, for Hong Kong to choose a chief executive who cooperates with the central government.”
All 27 pan-democrat lawmakers, along with a lawmaker representing the medical sector, voted down the reform proposal on June 18, saying that it would deprive voters of a “genuine choice” as it followed Beijing’s August 31 decision that the city must only choose from two or three hopefuls endorsed by the 1,200-strong nominating committee’s majority.
The July 1 march, organised yearly by the Civil Human Rights Front, will start from Victoria Park at 3pm and end with a rally along Tim Mei Avenue. The main theme of this year’s march is “to build a democratic Hong Kong and regain the future”.
July 1 marks the day in 1997 when Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule after 156 years under the British colonial government, an occasion known as the handover.