Bending to Protests, Hong Kong Leader Will Revisit Security Bill

[Michael Hoover <hooverm@xxxxxxxxxx>]

NYTimes.com

Bending to Protests, Hong Kong Leader Will Revisit Security Bill

July 18, 2003
By KEITH BRADSHER

HONG KONG, July 17 - Retreating further in response to
street protests, Hong Kong's leader announced this evening
that he would begin another round of public consultation
over controversial internal-security legislation, but
stopped short of saying he would accept changes to it.

The new round of consultations could push a final vote on
the bill well into the autumn and possibly much later,
allowing tempers to cool after three large rallies since
the start of July.

A march on July 1 drew a half-million protesters and
prompted Tung Chee-hwa, Hong Kong's chief executive, to
tone down the bill and announce, on July 7, that he would
defer legislative review for at least a few days.

Mr. Tung's announcement this evening followed the
resignation on Wednesday night of two top officials, Regina
Ip, the secretary of security, and Antony Leung, the
financial secretary, a setback for Beijing because the two
had the reputation of enjoying particularly close ties to
top Communist officials.

Mr. Tung said today that he was determined not to step down
himself. "If I say I'm leaving my post, I believe that's
irresponsible and will bring more uncertainties," he said.
"For that reason, I must stay firm in my post."

Mr. Tung plans to fly to Beijing on Saturday for talks with
China's rulers. His stance today would make it more
difficult for Beijing to remove him without looking as
though it is meddling in the politics of Hong Kong and
backing down in the face of public pressures here.

Emily Lau, a member of the Legislative Council and the
leader of the Frontier, a pro-democracy political party,
said she wanted Mr. Tung to resign but did not want Beijing
to become involved in Hong Kong's affairs. "We are not
inviting Beijing to sack him, we do not want Beijing to
interfere," she said.

A weak economy is further undermining Mr. Tung's efforts to
hold on to his job. Mr. Tung discussed his plans at a news
conference just an hour after the government announced that
unemployment, already a record at 8.3 percent, had risen
further to 8.6 percent for the period from April through
June, mainly because of SARS.

The protest on July 1 was mainly about the
internal-security legislation, which would have set long
prison sentences for offenses like sedition or even the
handling of documents that the government deemed seditious.


But after Mr. Tung said on July 7 that he would delay the
security bill for at least a few days, speakers at rallies
on July 9 and last Sunday called mainly for greater
democracy.

Mr. Tung said this evening that he would allow ample time
for public discussion of constitutional reforms over the
next several years. But he declined to answer three
separate questions about whether he felt that the next
chief executive should be chosen by popular vote.

An 800-member committee dominated by Beijing appointed Mr.
Tung in 1997 and reappointed him to another five-year term
last year.

Ma Lik, the secretary general of the Democratic Alliance
for the Betterment of Hong Kong, the largest of the
pro-government and pro-Beijing political parties, said he
thought Mr. Tung had done enough to address public
concerns.

Mr. Ma, an outspoken backer of the security legislation,
endorsed Mr. Tung's decision to call for further
consultation of the public, saying, "To win their support
is more important than to have a timetable to legislate."