Beijing rules out change of heart on democracy
Top state officials have given the clearest indication yet that Beijing's ruling against universal suffrage for Hong Kong in 2007 and 2008 will not be changed by last Thursday's demonstration.
Central government liaison office director Gao Siren said yesterday Hong Kong should implement the National People's Congress Standing Committee decision rather than seek to change it.
Describing the Standing Committee as the 'source of ten thousand powers' - the highest authority of the state - he said the decision was final and legally binding.
'Hong Kong is a place with the rule of law. Hong Kong citizens also have a strong sense of the rule of law. [They] should respect and implement the decision,' Mr Gao told a Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong reception last night.
He said the central authorities respected people's right to stage rallies and their right to freedom. But he said some people had called for the end of one-party dictatorship, which he described as 'inappropriate and wrong'.
Yang Wenchang, commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong, stressed the decision against universal suffrage did not mean no electoral changes would be allowed.
Asked if the decision could be changed, he said: 'The Standing Committee has made the decision. Is that something that could be changed easily?'
Lau Siu-kai, head of the Central Policy Unit, warned yesterday that tension would re-emerge if democrats kept up pressure on Beijing to review the decision.
'If [the democrats] insist on changing the decision, it might affect the relaxed and stable atmosphere emerging over the past two months, reviving political bickering and fuelling confrontations,' he said.
Professor Lau said the possibility of Beijing making a U-turn was very low.
