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Opposition forces Tung to bend on security law

POLITICAL CRISIS: Hong Kong's chief executive is trying to make the anti-subversion bill more palatable, but critics says he is ignoring the views of the people

AP , HONG KONG

"My colleagues and myself have to do better."－Tung Chee-hwa, Hong Kong's chief executive

Hong Kong's leader said yesterday he would tone down an anti-subversion bill that prompted a protest by 500,000 people, but he drew more political fire by saying he still wants the measure passed next week.

Critics demanded time for further consultations to ensure that the bill does not undermine Hong Kong's civil liberties. They accused Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa of ignoring the views of the people by pushing to have it enacted on schedule this Wednesday.

Tung said he would scrap a provision that allows some groups to be banned, add protections for journalists who publish classified information and delete a provision that would let police conduct searches without warrants.

His political foes weren't silenced, with some predicting Tung had been so badly weakened by the crisis that he could be forced to step down.

"The public is demanding a delay in the bill because they want consultations," independent legislator Audrey Eu said by telephone. "It's not the time for a patch-up job at the 11th hour and 59 minutes."

Surrounded by Cabinet members and top aides at a news conference, Tung acknowledged the massive outpouring of public sentiment had forced the embarrassing retreat from parts of the national security law and said "my colleagues and myself have to do better."

Tung found himself in the biggest political crisis since Hong Kong was returned from Britain to China, and the pressure became insurmountable after a key legislative ally went to Beijing and returned Friday saying he supported a delay in passing the law.

Opposition lawmaker Cyd Ho said outlawing sedition poses a threat to journalists, and she said other serious offenses carrying life prison sentences are too loosely defined.

"There are so many problems with this legislation," said Law Yuk-kai, director of the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, a non-governmental organization. "Why don't we give everybody some kind of cooling-off period and then conduct consultations?"

The bill outlaws subversion, treason, sedition and other crimes against the state, imposing life prison sentences for some offenses.

INDIRECT IMPACT: The controversial proposed national security act could have a bearing on all individuals and groups that have ties with Taiwan and Hong Kong

Although a controversial national security law expected to be enacted by the Hong Kong government this coming Wednesday will not have a direct bearing on Taiwan, political observers said that Taiwan nonetheless should keep a close eye on its development.

"Taiwan has every reason to stay watchful of the developments surrounding the proposed law because the law's underlying implications could have an indirect impact on all individuals and groups that, one way or another, have ties with Taiwan and Hong Kong," said Chin Heng-wei, a political observer and editor-in-chief of Contemporary Monthly magazine.

The new law, proposed by the Hong Kong government to be passed under Article 23 of its Basic Law, prohibits any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the People's Republic of China or theft of state secrets.

The law also allows the police to search private property without a warrant if a threat to national security is suspected. It also bans political organizations and groups in Hong Kong from having contact with similar groups abroad.

Once the law is enacted, it would also grant the authorities the power to silence political opponents and control the press under the pretext of protecting national security.

While the Hong Kong government insists it is necessary to pass the law, the majority of the Hong Kong public deem the proposed law as one that threatens their freedoms and fundamental rights.

As a result, approximately half a million Hong Kong people protested in the streets on Tuesday, instead of commemorating the 6th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China.

The furor over the proposed law raised foreign governments' eyebrows and the EU expressed its concern that the law could "undermine Hong Kong's autonomy." The US passed a nonbinding House resolution that urges the Hong Kong government to withdraw Article 23 as it would stifle the basic freedoms of the people of Hong Kong.

Given the ambiguity of definitions phrased in the proposed law, Chin said the law would give the Hong Kong government the power to ban any organization that it judges to be a threat to China's national security.

"That is to say, individuals or groups that comment or make moves of any sort that China's authorities see as sensitive and pose a challenge to the Chinese Communist Party, would risk the possibility of time spent in jail under the new law," Chin said, citing examples such as ties to the Falun Gong spiritual movement, Taiwan's independence, possession of official documents and the like.

Outlawed in China as a threat to state security, the Falun Gong meditation group is branded by Chinese authorities as an "evil cult" though it remains legal in Hong Kong.

"In other words, any Taiwanese tourists or press groups visiting Hong Kong in possession of a pro-Taiwan magazine, or who make casual remarks that they know of friends involved in the Falun Gong meditation group, could easily find themselves in trouble with the law before they know it," Chin said.

Echoing Chin's concerns, Mainland Affairs Council Vice Chairman Chen Ming-tong cited National Chi Nan University professor Byron Weng as an example and said that all Taiwanese like Weng, who also have Hong Kong residency, would have to be careful of what they do and says in view of the new law in order to avoid landing in hot water in Hong Kong before they are even aware of it.

"While the notion of being extremely alarmed and cautious about what you say and do is nothing new to China-based Taiwanese businesspeople who are used to the restricted climate while living in China, the idea is probably something that visitors from Taiwan have to learn to get used to while traveling in Hong Kong," added Holmes Liao, a political observer and research fellow at the Taiwan Research Institute's Division of Strategic and International Studies.

Chin added that Tuesday's protest in Hong Kong also conveyed one important message, which is that the idea that "one China, two systems" does not work.

According to the pre-handover agreement between London and Beijing when the former British colony was returned to China in 1997, China promised to keep Hong Kong's democratic system unchanged for at least 50 years.

"Beijing's `one country, two systems' promise turns out to be hollow, as we are witnessing in view of the proposed law in Hong Kong," Chin said.

LAWMAKERS CAUTIOUS: Several legislators warn that the issue could become a political plaything rather than improve the democratic representative system

"They understand that declaring independence or unification might be risky for the country right now."－DPP Legislator Wang Tuoh

Political parties could abuse the issue of a referendum on unification or independence, a ruling party lawmaker warned.

"Highlighting the unification or independence topic has made the referendum legislation a tool for political tactics by political parties, rather than a real hope to improve the insufficiency of the representative system of a democracy," DPP Legislator Wang Tuoh said.

The pan-blue camp's turnabout from constant resistance to a referendum to shouting out the need to finalize the legislation soon, as well as the ruling party's u-turn from a low-key attitude towards a referendum on the unification or independence issue to vowing to hold the Fourth Nuclear Plant referendum at all costs, impressed the public like a NBA game, Wang said.

"The truth is, however, that the majority of people are content to maintain the status quo on Taiwan at the moment. Their voices in support of drafting a referendum law must not necessarily be seen as an endorsement for a unification or independence referendum to be held now.

"They understand that declaring independence or unification might be risky for the country right now," Wang said.

"The DPP should implement a referendum on the unification or independence topic along with the nuclear issue right after the Legislative Yuan finalizes the legal formulation, since the independence of Taiwan and abandoning nuclear energy have been the DPP's ultimate goals for years," KMT legislative whip Liu Cheng-hung said when he commented on the DPP draft referendum bill on Monday.

The DPP, under the leadership of President Chen Shui-bian, was also denounced by an independent lawmaker for its reluctance to laud Trong Chai, a lawmaker renowned for his conviction that the country's fate be determined by referendum.

"The late DPP chairman Huang Hsin-chieh must be disappointed to see his followers make the DPP's longtime pledge of realizing independence into a slogan," independent Legislator Sisy Chen said.

Sisy Chen, a former member of the DPP who turned around to side with the pan-blue camp, challenged the DPP for breaking down one of its founding objectives of pursuing the country's final independence by holding referendums.

The ruling party's reservations over elaborating on its hope to include the unification or independence issue in the referendum legislation exemplified its abandoning of Huang's convictions, Sisy Chen said.

She referred to a remark by Huang when the late statesman addressed the public in the US in 1988.

The former DPP chairman told the public at that time that certain matters, such as realizing Taiwan's independence, should be tried without public propaganda. Other issues, such as the hope of unification with China, would be a better political slogan than a real action.

"The DPP proposes a defensive referendum scheme in the referendum legislation. A defensive referendum, requested by the president and needing to be approved by the Cabinet, would take place and demonstrate the people's response if Taiwan ever encounters any attack," DPP legislative leader Chen Chi-mai said, refering to a final draft bill to be presented by the ruling party this week.

Chen Chi-mai promised that the final copy will exclude wording about a unification or independence referendum.

Another way adopted by the DPP to divert the public's concerns was drumming up support for referendums to expedite Taiwan's parliamentary reforms.

"We ask for an advisory referendum scheme to provide a legal basis for people to express their hopes of pushing for legislative reforms and demanding the legislature to work for it," said DPP Legislator Chen Chin-de when he unveiled DPP contentions about the referendum law.

But for some other people, the DPP was not the only party vague on the unification or independence controversy.

Political commentator Lee Hsiao-feng expressed his confusion over the pan-blue camp's change in stance.

"KMT Chairman Lien Chan always warned that a referendum will bring disaster to Taiwan. That confused me because I don't understand how people in a democracy wanting to express their opinion on the fate of the country would necessitate a security warning," Lee said.

"I was then confused by the sudden change in the pan-blue's stance when I heard that the KMT legislative caucus proposed that a referendum on unification or independence should take place alongside the nuclear referendum in August," he said.

"I am still puzzled by the alliance's latest conclusion that they will refuse to legitimize such a topic in the referendum legislation. The pan-blue's hypothesis that a referendum on the topic will endanger Taiwan's security is contradictory to their conviction that pro-independence members are in the minority in this country, he said.