By-election candidate Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee was right when she said the use of violent language against Democrat Martin Lee Chu-ming over his remarks on China's human rights might prove counterproductive to her campaign for a seat in the legislature.
She was responding to questions about whether she would gain from the controversy, in which Mr Lee was attacked for writing a newspaper article in the US suggesting that Washington use the Beijing Olympics to engage China on its human rights record. The row has also entangled Mrs Ip's rival in December's Hong Kong Island by-election, Anson Chan Fang On-sang. Mr Lee is one of Mrs Chan's core supporters.
With the by-election still five weeks away, Mrs Ip said that such harsh words against Mr Lee would not necessarily benefit her. Her comments came in the midst of a wave of vitriolic attacks by pro-Beijing politicians and newspapers against Mr Lee.
The onslaught began after the Chinese-language Sing Tao Daily gave prominent coverage to Mr Lee's article last Wednesday - one week after it was published in The Wall Street Journal.
Outside the Legislative Council, members of left-wing unions staged a protest against Mr Lee. Inside the chamber, left-wing unionist Wong Kwok-hing branded him a traitor. Tam Yiu-chung, chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, demanded an apology and a retraction from Mr Lee. Tsang Hin-chi, a local member of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, accused Mr Lee of forgetting his Chinese roots.
This week, one pro-Beijing newspaper reported that a group of district councillors has organised a signature campaign against what the paper said was a call by Mr Lee for a boycott of next year's Olympics.
One member explained that its purpose was to reaffirm support for the Games, not to target Mr Lee, as the newspaper had claimed. When it first erupted, the controversy may well have been seen as a godsend by the pro-Beijing camp in its election battle. Yet, the developments since have shown that the potential damage to the democratic camp might be less serious than its rivals had envisaged.
