Leaders of a group of professionals who signed a public declaration calling for the protection of Hong Kong's core values will meet Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa tomorrow to discuss their concerns. The meeting comes less than a week after more than 200 professionals - among them influential social figures - made the declaration saying they were 'greatly disturbed' about the erosion of values, such as democracy, freedom and fairness, in Hong Kong. Other values the group wanted to defend included liberty, human rights, rule of law, social justice, integrity and transparency, plurality, respect for individuals, and the upholding of professionalism. Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, a political science professor at City University who was one of the campaign organisers, said he hoped Mr Tung's unusually swift move to meet them would represent a change in his style of governance. 'Any government, after seeing so many of the professionals and academics speaking in a collective voice, would have to be concerned, whether they agreed with the concerns or not,' Professor Cheung said. The government was understood to be very concerned about the unusual show of force by the city's leading academics and professionals, and the meeting was arranged by Lau Siu-kai, head of the Central Policy Unit, to help Mr Tung better understand public sentiment. Hong Kong has been hit by a series of controversies since Beijing ruled out the introduction of universal suffrage by 2007, including accusations that mainland officials have tried to influence the Legco election and curb freedom of speech. But on Sunday, the government issued a strong statement saying Hong Kong's core values remained intact. Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Stephen Lam Sui-lung also said in Legco on Wednesday that the government had defended these values, and would continue to do so.
