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Hong Kong’s Leader Skirts Democracy Issue in Address Hong Kong Leader’s Speech Skirts Appeals for Democracy
(about 13 hours later)
HONG KONG — The chief executive of Hong Kong, in his annual policy address on Wednesday, called for greater government spending on education from kindergarten through college, but said little in response to appeals here for greater democracy.HONG KONG — The chief executive of Hong Kong, in his annual policy address on Wednesday, called for greater government spending on education from kindergarten through college, but said little in response to appeals here for greater democracy.
Leung Chun-ying, the chief executive, also said the government would step up financial assistance to the elderly, provide more spaces in government-subsidized nursing homes and seek to make housing more affordable. The chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, also said the government would step up financial assistance to the elderly, provide more spaces in government-subsidized nursing homes and seek to make housing more affordable.
But Mr. Leung said little about how the city would conduct its next election for chief executive in 2017. Beijing officials have said they may for the first time allow every adult to vote in that election, instead of restricting suffrage to a small committee chosen by various interest groups mostly aligned with Beijing. But Mr. Leung said little about how the city would conduct its next election for chief executive in 2017. Officials in Beijing have said they may for the first time allow every adult to vote in that election, instead of restricting suffrage to a small committee chosen by interest groups mostly aligned with Beijing.
Local allies of the Chinese Communist Party have also said Beijing wants to limit the names that will appear on the ballot in 2017 by retaining some version of the current nominating committee. That committee is dominated by loyal supporters of almost any policy sent down from Beijing. Hong Kong is a former British colony that was returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under pledges that it would have a fair degree of autonomy. Local allies of the Chinese Communist Party have also said Beijing wants to limit the names on the ballot in 2017 by retaining some version of the current nominating committee. That committee is dominated by loyal supporters of almost any policy sent down from Beijing. Hong Kong, a former British colony, was returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under pledges that it would have a fair degree of autonomy.
The government here has just begun a public consultation on how to redesign the electoral system. The government here has begun a public consultation on how to redesign the electoral system.
Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief secretary for administration and the city’s second-ranking official after Mr. Leung, said in a separate news conference for foreign correspondents that Mr. Leung’s administration sincerely wanted to amend the city’s electoral law to allow all adults to vote. But the administration must also comply with a provision in the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, requiring the creation of a “broadly representative” nominating committee. Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief secretary for administration and its second-ranking official, said in a separate news conference for foreign correspondents that Mr. Leung’s administration sincerely wanted to amend the city’s electoral law to allow all adults to vote. But the administration must comply with a provision in the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, that requires the creation of a “broadly representative” nominating committee.
Pushing changes through the Legislative Council of Hong Kong will not be easy. The pro-democracy political parties want the general public to be able to nominate candidates, but they are divided over whether to strike any compromises. The pro-Beijing parties want nominating committee that will be acceptable to the Hong Kong public, but they have their own differences as well. Pushing changes through the Legislative Council of Hong Kong will not be easy. The pro-democracy political parties want the general public to be able to nominate candidates, but they are divided over whether to strike any compromises. The pro-Beijing parties want a fairly small, elite nominating committee that will be acceptable to the Hong Kong public, but they have their own differences as well.
Mrs. Lam said that while she had dined with more than 60 of the 70 members of the legislature, finding consensus between the two camps was very difficult. “At the moment, the gap is very wide between the two,” she said. Mrs. Lam said that although she had dined with more than 60 of the 70 members of the legislature, finding consensus between the two camps was very difficult. “At the moment, the gap is very wide between the two,” she said.
Mr. Leung said at a separate news conference after his policy address that he did not wish to specify a new approach for now. “As the sitting chief executive, I have the responsibility to make sure that this job is done well,” he said.Mr. Leung said at a separate news conference after his policy address that he did not wish to specify a new approach for now. “As the sitting chief executive, I have the responsibility to make sure that this job is done well,” he said.
Democracy advocates here have begun an “Occupy Central” movement that calls for filling the streets of the city’s business district with protesters each day starting on July 1 to demand full democracy.Democracy advocates here have begun an “Occupy Central” movement that calls for filling the streets of the city’s business district with protesters each day starting on July 1 to demand full democracy.
Mr. Leung also expressed concern about the city’s chronic housing shortage, which has worsened in the last few years as wealthy mainland Chinese families have bought homes in the territory as a way to safeguard their money in case of tax investigations or political turmoil on the mainland. Mr. Leung expressed concern about the city’s chronic housing shortage, which has worsened as wealthy mainland Chinese families have bought homes in the territory.
More than half of the city’s apartments are smaller than 538 square feet, Mr. Leung noted. “I often think, if a kindergartner asks me, ‘Where will I live when I grow up?’ what answer should I give?” he said. “ 'Nowhere’ is definitely not an acceptable answer.” “I often think, if a kindergartner asks me, ‘Where will I live when I grow up?’ what answer should I give?” Mr. Leung said. “ ‘Nowhere’ is definitely not an acceptable answer.”
Mr. Leung, a former real estate surveyor, promised to step up the pace of rezoning land for residential construction — an issue because the government has been considering whether to allow buildings on some of the city’s green spaces, and whether to reclaim government-owned land currently leased by a sprawling, private golf club popular with the city’s elite. Mr. Leung promised to step up the pace of rezoning land for residential construction — an issue because the government has been considering whether to allow buildings on some of the city’s green spaces, and whether to reclaim government-owned land leased by a sprawling private golf club popular with the city’s elite.
Thomas Chow, the permanent secretary for development, said at the news conference with Mrs. Lam that the government would start in the coming weeks a 30-month engineering and ecological analysis of the viability of putting residential construction at or near either the site of the sprawling, century-old complex of golf courses or a nearby vacation estate for the territory’s chief executive.
Both were built when the area was remote countryside, but Hong Kong’s urban sprawl has spread around them and they are just across the border from heavily built-up Shenzhen in mainland China. Shenzhen, a few villages with duck ponds in the 1970s, is now a city of more than 10 million temporary and permanent residents, exceeding Hong Kong’s population of 7 million.
Mrs. Lam also emphasized the government’s plans to spend about $387 million, on a subsidy program for children of the city’s working poor. Previous government assistance programs have generally not required recipients to work, but the new Hong Kong program, which has an ideological similarity to the earned-income tax credit in the United States, is designed to increase labor force participation by the poor at a time when Hong Kong has an unemployment rate of only 3.3 percent and has shortages of workers in some industries.