Hong Kong to march for democracy

DEMAND FOR CHANGE: Tens of thousands of people are expected to jam the streets today to call for full democracy rather than Beijing's small-bore reforms

AP , HONG KONG

Tens of thousands of protesters are expected to march in Hong Kong's streets today to demand full democracy in the territory.

The protest comes as public discontent mounts against the government's latest proposal for political reforms -- changes that many believe don't go far enough. Pro-democracy lawmakers want the government to give a timeline for when voters will be given the right to directly elect the city's leader and entire legislature.

Analysts predict today's march will draw between 50,000 and 100,000 people. The turnout will be closely watched by the Hong Kong and Chinese governments, both of whom have gone on a public relations offensive to dampen enthusiasm for the protest.

Beijing is eager to maintain stability in Hong Kong, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997. Two massive pro-democracy marches helped trigger the territory's first leadership change since the handover. Both protests -- in 2003 and last year -- drew half a million people demanding the right to pick their leader and all lawmakers.

In the past few weeks, both the pro-democracy and the pro-Beijing camps have spent lavishly to take out prominent newspaper advertisements in a bid to influence public opinion and today's turnout.

Yesterday, an ad signed by 20 pro-democracy lawmakers reading "Fight for democracy, make history" and "Hong Kong people cannot be kept waiting definitely" was posted in many major papers.

The government's political reform package calls for doubling the size of the 800-member committee that picks the territory's leader. The reforms also propose expanding the 60-member legislature. Half the members are directly elected, while the other half are selected by interest groups.

In a rare televised address days ahead of the planned protest, Chief Executive Donald Tsang warned that opposing the reform package would result in no democratic progress. But critics accused the leader of trying to pressure the public against marching.

"Donald Tsang uses scare tactics," read a front-page headline in the mass-market Apple Daily a day after Tsang's speech.

Beijing also took the unusual step of inviting prominent pro-democracy lawmakers to discuss political reforms with senior Chinese officials in Shenzhen.

After Friday's meeting, deputy secretary-general of the National People's Congress (NPC) Qiao Xiaoyang, stood firm on the moderate reform package but encouraged discussion of a timetable for democratization.

Another Chinese official, Xu Jialu, tried to play down the protest.

"If Hong Kong people want to march, they have that freedom. Let them march," Xu, vice chairman of the NPC's standing committee, said in Beijing.

One of today's march organizers, pro-democracy Legislator Lee Cheuk-yan, said protesters want all political offices to be directly elected by 2008 -- a demand Beijing rejected in April last year -- or 2012 at the latest.

Torture still widespread in China, UN envoy says

THE GUARDIAN , BEIJING

Immersion in sewage, ripping out fingernails, sleep deprivation, cigarette burns and beatings with electric prods -- these are some of the torture methods used by China's police and prison officers to extract confessions and maintain discipline, a UN investigation has found.

Manfred Nowak, the UN special rapporteur on torture, said on Friday that abuse of suspects and prisoners remained widespread in China. Treatment was far worse than international norms, despite recent signs of improvement.

Nowak's investigation was the first ever permitted by China and, as such, represents a breakthrough in human rights. Despite this, he said he had been obstructed by security officials, who intimidated some victims and their relatives or prevented them from seeing him.

However, he was able to visit prisons and "re-education" camps in Beijing and the troubled regions of Xinjiang and Tibet, as well as interviewing academics, justice officials and detainees.

Among the prisoners, Nowak said he observed a "palpable level of fear and self-censorship," which he had not seen in missions to other countries.

Human-rights groups say brutality and degradation are common in Chinese prisons, where many of the victims are from the Tibetan and Uighur ethnic minorities, political dissidents, followers of the banned Falun Gong sect and members of underground churches.

Although China outlawed torture in 1996, its definition of illegal acts -- those leaving physical marks -- is so narrow that interrogators can employ a wide range of methods contravening UN standards.

Result may force changes to DPP's policy on China

FALLOUT: The election results indicate that Ma Ying-jeou has consolidated his power within the KMT, with the DPP held back by infighting, analysts said

By Jewel Huang

STAFF REPORTER

"The DPP government will have more difficulties over the next two years, and the first thorny problem that President Chen Shui-bian will have to contend with is whether he should change his policies toward China. And he might be forced to wind down restrictions in cross-strait affairs," political analyst Hsu Yung-ming said yesterday.－

Hsu is also a research fellow at the Academia Sinica.

The Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp scandal involving a former official of the Presidential Office may force the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government to make concessions in cross-strait policy since the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) -- which has adopted a cooperative relationship with China -- won a landslide victory in yesterday's election, political analysts said.

Hsu said that a series of scandals that plagued the DPP throughout the campaign could be seen as the major factor hampering it in this election, in which it lost many constituencies -- including Taipei, Nantou, Ilan and Changhua counties, as well as Chiayi City.

"The first thorny problem that President Chen Shui-bian will have to contend with is whether he should change his policies toward China."

Hsu Yung-ming, political analyst

"The DPP's high-ranking officials need to really investigate ways to rebuild voters' faith, if they want to secure their position of power in 2008," Hsu said.

Wang Yeh-li, a political science professor at Tunghai University, said the election results indicate that pan-green supporters were dissatisfied with the DPP government's performance and were not motivated to vote for the party they have supported in the past.

"The overall political climate is unfavorable to the ruling party, and a series of corruption scandals weakened pan-green voters' desire to vote, or caused them to turn to the pan-blue camp," Wang said.

Additionally, many of the DPP's local chiefs did not perform satisfactorily, and the pan-blue candidates did a better job serving the local people and plugging in to local networks, which helped them to win voters' hearts.

Shih Cheng-feng, a professor at Tamkang University's Department of Public Administration, said that the DPP's internal disputes and conflicts were the major factors behind its election debacle.

"Competition between different internal factions and contention for the 2008 presidential nomination have divided the DPP," Shih said.

"The desire for power has undermined the down-to-earth attitude of its political leadership, and the change has been felt by voters and reflected in their voting behavior," Shih said.

Political analysts also contended the election demonstrated that KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou holds a strong appeal and charisma, attracting both pan-blue supporters and neutral voters.

Hsu said that Ma has successfully consolidated pan-blue party identification and confirmed his political supremacy in the pan-blue camp.

Ma has been regarded as a savior and the only figure capable of leading the KMT's resurgence.

Wang echoed Hsu, saying that Ma's popularity proved the KMT could cross the Choshui River.

Traditionally, the region south of the Choshui River has been in the hands of pan-green politicians.

Shih also noted Ma's successful strategy.

"Ma vowing to step down from his chairmanship effectively roused the pan-blue supporters' sense of crisis and proved lethal to the DPP in the elections," Shih said.

However, political analysts also pointed out that voters seemed to feel they understood Ma more throughout the course of the campaign, although many might have found him to be less principled than they'd thought.

"Although this election might not shake his standing in the pan-blue camp, Ma was unable to gain the total advantage from the election campaign," Hsu said.

Hsu noted that Ma had played many petty tricks during the campaign, endorsing many KMT candidates who have records of corruption, which might damage his image of being trustworthy.

Meanwhile, judging from KMT candidates' backgrounds and the party's campaign strategy, Hsu thought that it had risked its long-established image of being the more "stable" and "decent" political party.

"The KMT adopted campaign sleight of hand that the DPP has used, and it has become more and more like an opposition party," Hsu said.

Meanwhile, DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang's resignation will not necessarily doom his political future, Hsu said.

On Friday Su promised to step down if the DPP's candidate lost in Taipei County.

"Su made an effort to campaign for the DPP candidate for Taipei County, Luo Wen-chia, and pan-green voters might not blame him for this election outcome," Hsu said. "Su could be deemed as a tragic hero, and DPP supporters might think they owe him one, and give him a chance to make a comeback."