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Hong Kong: Pro-democracy march (pub. March 22, 2007)

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A march to support the introduction of full democracy was held in Hong Kong on March 18, one week before elections to the post of chief executive, scheduled for March 25.  The organisers claimed that about 5,000 people took part in the march, but the police said that there had been only 1,800 protesters.  The election of the chief executive by the 800-memeber electoral council would be the first in Hong Kong in which more than one candidate was standing.  However, the incumbent chief executive, Donald Tsang, on Feb. 16 had received 641 nominations from members of the electoral council, while his challenger Alan Leong had received only 132, making it virtually certain that Tsang would be re-elected.  Tsang was the candidate favoured by the mainland Chinese authorities.

Immediate context

Tsang had offered to work towards the introduction of universal suffrage, but had made no commitment as to how or when this might take place.  When the UK handed over Hong Kong to Chinese control in 1997, it was agreed that a fully democratic system would be introduced in Hong Kong, under the terms of the Basic Law approved in 1990.

Tsang's challenger, Alan Leong, who represented both the Civic Party and the Democratic Party, stated that he had decided to stand for election in order to draw attention to the limitations imposed on the election process.  He had been criticised by other pro-democracy campaigners, who claimed that his participation helped to give a false impression of an element of choice in the elections.  However, Leong claimed that the semblance of a democratic process was a step forward, and new developments, such as the first electoral debate since return to Chinese rule, encouraged popular interest and open discussion of the issue.

Hong Kong's first electoral debate (as previously candidates for the post of chief executive had been unopposed) was held on March 1 and was tightly controlled.  Only a few minutes were made available for questions from the public, and these were not allowed to contain anything offensive, critical, or biased. In addition, no nicknames for the candidates were allowed, but the expressions "bow-tie" for Tsang and "pocket handkerchief" for Leong were permitted, as they were deemed descriptions of clothing.  Another debate was held on March 15, but without questions from the audience.

Tsang took over as chief executive after his predecessor Tung Chee-hwa, Hong Kong's leader since the 1997 handover, resigned in 2005, two years before the end of his second term.  Tsang’s popularity fell to a record low in December 2006.

The 800 members of the electoral committee who would vote for the chief executive were elected by pro-Chinese business and professional groups. Only 30 members of the 60-member Legislative Council (LegCo), Hong Kong’s legislature, were elected.


Reaction and outlook

Following the pro-democracy rally on March 18, a Hong Kong government spokesman emphasised that the government was already conducting a consultation exercise over the possibility of universal suffrage.  However, after the electoral debate on March 15, the Chinese authorities urged the electoral committee to vote for Tsang and insisted that despite anything Tsang or Leong said, China would retain ultimate control over the pace of any democratic reform. Anson Chan, the popular former chief of Hong Kong's civil service, publicly suggested that full democracy could be introduced by 2016, rather than by 2012, the date favoured by Leong and other pro-democracy campaigners, but Chan’s proposal was not welcomed by the Chinese government.


Historical context

Hong Kong became a UK colony in 1842, under the Treaty of Nanking, following the first Opium War between the UK and China. The Kowloon Peninsula had subsequently been acquired by the Convention of Peking in 1860, and the New Territories were leased from China in 1898 for a period of 99 years. Hong Kong was occupied by Japan from 1941 until 1945 but returned to UK control at the end of World War II. In 1984 the UK conceded that in 1997, on the expiry of the lease on the New Territories, China would regain sovereignty over the whole of Hong Kong. The Sino-British Joint Declaration, signed in December 1984, contained detailed assurances on the future of Hong Kong, with China guaranteeing the continuation of the territory's capitalist economy and lifestyle for 50 years after 1997. Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule in 1997, under a "one country, two systems" arrangement, which was intended to protect Hong Kong’s judicial and political autonomy. In 1994 reforms proposed by UK governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, increased the elected element of the Legislative Council (LegCo), despite Chinese hostility to the changes. The pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong continued to press for full political reform through political party activity and by staging demonstrations.  In November 2006 Alan Leong’s announcement of his intention to stand for election as chief executive marked the first time that there would be more than one candidate for the post.


Timeline links

  • December 2006.  An electorate of some 200,000 people drawn from political organisations and business and professional sectors votes for candidates for 427 contested seats on the 800-member Election Committee. The results, in which 114 pro-democracy candidates were elected, are seen as a significant gain for Civic Party legislator Alan Leong.
  • November 2006. A proposal to elect the chief executive by universal suffrage in 2012 is defeated on Nov. 22 in the Legislative Council (LegCo). Alan Leong announces that he will contest the 2007 election for the chief executive, representing both his own Civic Party and the Democratic Party.
  • May 2006. The Legislative Council (LegCo) endorses amendments to the term of the Chief Executive. The bill's main purpose is to specify that the term of any chief executive who took office before the expiry of the predecessor's term would be the completion of that unfinished term. Thus the term of current Chief Executive Donald Tsang, who was elected in June 2005 following the resignation in March of Tung Chee-hwa, would end in 2007, completing Tung's term begun in 2002. Tsang would then be eligible to stand for only one more term of office, the partial term counting as a full term.
  • March 2006. The pro-democracy Article 45 Concern Group announces that it is establishing a new political party, the Civic Party.
  • January 2006. Chief Executive Donald Tsang abandons a package of proposals for electoral reform. A group of 35 prominent pro-democracy supporters pays for newspaper advertisements on Jan. 23, calling on Tsang to exercise "courageous leadership" to implement universal suffrage.
  • December 2005. The Legislative Council (LegCo) fails to endorse a package of proposals for electoral reform put forward by Chief Executive Donald Tsang. Proposals to double the size of the 800-member Election Committee to choose the Chief Executive for the next election in 2007, and to increase the size of LegCo from 60 to 70 seats (half of them directly elected) in 2008, are both defeated. Pro-democracy legislators vote against the proposals, insisting that they are meaningless unless accompanied by a definite timetable for the introduction of universal suffrage. A demonstration is held calling for a timetable for full democracy and is attended by at least 63,000 people and possibly as many as 250,000 people.
  • November 2005.  Chief Executive Tsang on Nov. 15 announces the relaunch of the 1998 Commission on Strategic Development (CSD), the duties of which would include work on "a road map for universal suffrage".  Critics claimed that the Chinese authorities had already ruled out progress to full democracy.
  • September 2005.  A ban on a number of pro-democracy legislators from visiting the mainland is temporarily waived by the Chinese authorities. Chinese officials tolerate the pro-democracy slogans of maverick legislator " Longhair" Leung Kwok-hung, although Guangdong Communist Party chief Zhang Dejiang describes Leung as "impolite".
  • June 2005. Former Chief Secretary Donald Tsang is confirmed as the new chief executive. Tsang's last remaining rival, Lee Wing-tat, leader of the opposition, pulls out of the contest after securing only 51 nominations from the 796-seat Election Committee, well short of the 100 nominations needed to run for the post. Tsang's term, completing that of his predecessor Tung Chee-hwa, who resigned in March, would last only two years. Analysts predict that he will be cautious in promoting further democracy in Hong Kong.
  • April 2005. The standing committee of the mainland People's Republic of China (PRC)'s National People's Congress (NPC--the legislature) rules that the term of the new Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) due to be elected in July would last for only two years, completing the five-year term of Tung Chee-hwa. The ruling follows a request on April 6 by the HKSAR government for a judicial review of its intention to limit the term to two years, bypassing Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal. Donald Tsang, the interim chief executive, is widely expected to be confirmed in the post. However, analysts believe that the Chinese government, not altogether trusting Tsang's background as a civil servant under the former UK colonial administration, preferred him to serve a probationary period as Chief Executive.
  • March 2005. Tung Chee-hwa, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), announces his resignation some two years before the end of his term, citing ill health. Although his resignation appears to be a triumph for the pro-democracy activists who had organised mass demonstrations demanding his replacement, most analysts say that he had been dismissed by the Chinese authorities.
  • November 2004.  The veteran pro-democracy activist and recently elected (with over 60,000 votes) legislator "Longhair" Leung Kwok-hung is expelled from the Legislative Council (LegCo) chamber for refusing to follow procedural rules. Leung had already flouted convention by wearing a T-shirt at the LegCo swearing-in ceremony and adding "Power to the people" to the oath.
  • August 2004. Alex Ho, a member of the Democratic Party (DP), is arrested in the mainland Chinese city of Dongguan, and sentenced without trial to six months' detention after confessing to having had sex with a prostitute. Analysts comment that the arrest was probably part of a strategy by the Chinese government to undermine the prospects of the pro-democracy DP in forthcoming elections.
  • July 2004. Organisers estimate that 530,000 people joined a pro-democracy demonstration on July 1, on the 7th anniversary of the return of Chinese sovereignty to the former UK colony. The police estimate attendance at around 200,000. Banners at the demonstration not only criticise the unpopular chief executive Tung Chee-hwa but also condemn the Chinese government for its ruling in April against an extension of democracy in Hong Kong in the near future.
  • June 2004.  In a gesture of conciliation towards the pro-democracy movement by the Chinese government, the official Chinese Xinhua news agency on June 13 reports that improved communications between the PRC government and the democrats would "benefit Hong Kong's social harmony and stability". Tung Chee-hwa holds his first talks for more than a year with pro-democracy campaigners.
  • May 2004. Former leader of the Liberal Party (LP) Allen Lee tells a hearing held by the Legislative Council (LegCo) that he had left his job as the host of a radio talk show after receiving repeated calls from mainland Chinese officials warning him to tone down his pro-democracy views.
  • April 2004. The National People's Council (NPC--the legislature of mainland China-- PRC) rules against any further expansion of democracy in Hong Kong in the near future. Specifically, the NPC standing committee rules out the direct election by universal suffrage of the HKSAR Chief Executive in 2007, and the direct election of all 60 members of the Legislative Council (LegCo) in 2008, compared with 30 members due to be popularly elected in September 2004.  
  • March 2004. A delegation of pro-democracy activists visits the USA, testifying on March 4 to the foreign affairs committee of the US Senate (the upper house of the bicameral federal legislature). China's Foreign Ministry warns the USA against "schemes to interfere in China's internal affairs" in Hong Kong.
  • February 2004. The Chinese government insists on having the final say on changes to the election of Hong Kong’s chief executive and Legislative Council (LegCo). Hong Kong's Basic Law (its mini-constitution) provided for the possibility of the direct election of the chief executive and the popular election of the entirety of LegCo by 2007 and 2008 respectively.
  • January 2004. An estimated 100,000 people participate in a pro-democracy march.
  • November 2003.  A motion introduced in the Legislative Council (LegCo) calling for full democracy in Hong Kong, is defeated by 21 votes to 19, with eight abstentions.
  • July 2003.  The biggest mass demonstration in Hong Kong's history is held on July 1, the sixth anniversary of the return of the territory to Chinese sovereignty, as an estimated 500,000 people (about five times the expected number) march against the government's proposed anti-subversion legislation. The government had insisted that it was obliged to introduce the National Security Bill as article 23 of the Basic Law (Hong Kong's mini-constitution), but opposition legislators, human rights groups, and business leaders claim that the search and arrest powers that the new law would give the police and its ban on the disclosure of state secrets will seriously erode Hong Kong's civil liberties.
  • February 2003. The government unveils its National Security Bill, containing new definitions of treason, secession, and subversion. The draft bill is opposed by the Democratic Party and human rights activists.
  • December 2002. Up to 50,000 people demonstrate against the government's plan for an anti-subversion law that critics fear will undermine political and civil liberties.
  • June 2002.  Pro-democracy legislators react angrily to assertions by China's Vice Premier Qian Qichen that Hong Kong's "foremost need" is "stability", and that its political development cannot be divorced from the rest of China.  
  • March 2002. Tung Chee-hwa secures an unopposed second term as Chief Executive without a formal vote by the election committee. Tung had received 714 (out of a maximum of 800) nominations by committee members. Tung is supported by China's President Jiang Zemin, but an opinion poll in Hong Kong indicates he lacks public support.
  • February 2002.  Tung Chee-hwa on Feb. 19 hands in nomination papers at the registration and election office for a second term of office, with 704 nominations from the 796-member election committee, meaning that effectively he would be re-elected unopposed. Pro-democracy legislators condemn the election as a sham. The April Fifth Action Group of political activists attempts to hand in a nomination for a dog.
  • December 2001. Tung Chee-hwa, chief executive, announces his intention to run for a second term. Tung's candidacy had already been openly supported by China's President Jiang Zemin.
  • July 2001.  The Legislative Council ( LegCo) passes a bill on the election in March 2002 of the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) which contains a controversial clause that appears to surrender a large part of the territory's political autonomy to mainland China. Despite impassioned resistance by opposition legislators, LegCo approves a clause in the bill granting the Chinese government the right to remove the chief executive if he is "incapable of serving". Martin Lee, leader of the opposition Democratic Party (DP), presents to LegCo a petition with 30,000 signatures demanding the election of the chief executive by universal suffrage.
  • February 2001. Donald Tsang is appointed Chief Secretary, the head of the civil service, succeeding the retiring Anson Chan.
  • January 2001. The principled and popular Anson Chan, Chief Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), tenders her resignation, to take effect at the end of April. The surprise resignation is seen by analysts as the most significant political event in Hong Kong since the return to Chinese sovereignty. Chan was a staunch defender of the autonomy of the civil service and the principles of liberality, openness and justice in the territory's public life and business environment. Most observers consider that Chan had effectively been forced out of her post by pressure from the government of mainland China and from pro-Chinese business interests in Hong Kong. Chan had disagreed with Chief Executive Tung on many issues, most notably in her advocacy of accelerated progress towards full democracy in the territory.
  • November 2000. Students hold the latest of a series of protests against the Public Order Ordinance (POO), which stipulated that permission for demonstrations had to be obtained from the police at least seven days in advance. POO had been liberalised in the last years of UK rule but tightened again after the 1997 handover to China, although it was rarely used.
  • October 2000. At a press conference in Beijing, the capital of China, on Oct. 27, China's President Jiang Zemin angrily shouts and gesticulates at Hong Kong journalists who ask him whether his endorsement of Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa running for re-election in 2002 means that Tung has been secretly reappointed by "imperial order". A group of protesters in Hong Kong burn photographs of Jiang in the street.
  • September 2000.  Legislative elections are held, the second since the return to Chinese sovereignty. The turnout is low and support for the pro-China party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) increases.
  • January 2000. The Legislative Council (LegCo) supports a motion calling for a referendum "as soon as possible" on political reform.
  • November 1999. The Democratic Party (DP) loses ground in the first local government elections since the return to Chinese sovereignty. Local political analysts say that many nominally independent candidates had contested the elections with mainland Chinese backing.
  • June 1999. In the only commemoration on Chinese territory of the 10th anniversary of the 1989 massacre of pro-democracy campaigners in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, more than 70,000 people hold a sombre, candle-lit rally in Hong Kong's Victoria Park.
  • January 1999. After a demonstration on Jan. 1 by 300 activists calling for more democracy in China, during which a protester is arrested for tearing a Chinese flag, the secretary for security, Regina Ip, warns that in future all demonstrations will have to be carefully vetted by the police because of the risk they posed to public order.
  • July 1998. Chinese President Jiang Zemin arrives in Hong Kong to attend the July 1 celebrations marking the first anniversary of the handover of the territory from UK to Chinese control. Jiang claims that the first year of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's existence had shown the correctness of the "one country, two systems" strategy.  
  • June 1998. As many as 40,000 people attend a commemoration of the 1989 massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, by the Chinese authorities.
  • May 1998.  Pro-democracy candidates dominate the popular vote in Hong Kong’s first post-colonial elections. However, the structure of complex voting system ensures that the pro-democracy forces are a minority in the legislature. After the elections chief executive Tung Chee-hwa plays down the prospect of an acceleration of political reform, arguing that progress towards a fully-elected legislature should continue at the pace laid down in the Basic Law, Hong Kong's post-colonial constitution. The Basic Law outlines a gradual increase in the number of seats to be contested by direct election, and provides for a decision to be made in 2007 on whether to move to a wholly directly-elected legislature.
  • January 1998. Pro-democracy activists stage a demonstration to coincide with the first visit to the territory of Yang Shangkun, the former Chinese President, who is widely regarded as one of the instigators behind the Tiananmen Square massacre in June 1989. The protesters call for Yang to take responsibility for the massacre and to leave the territory.
  • December 1997. Thirty-six deputies from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) are elected to the Ninth National People's Congress (NPC), the Chinese unicameral legislature. No member of the Democratic Party manages to obtain the 10 nominations from the election conference required in order to stand as a candidate in the election. As a result, pro-democracy campaigners stage a noisy protest outside the building where the election was held.
  • September 1997. Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, Chief Secretary Anson Chan and Democratic Party (DP) chairman Martin Lee make separate visits to the USA in September to present their views on the future of Hong Kong under Chinese rule. The Provisional Legislative Council (PLC) passes amendments to Hong Kong's election law which paves the way for the holding of the first post-colonial elections in 1998.
  • July 1997. Hong Kong is handed over from UK to Chinese sovereignty at midnight on June 30 -July 1. The creation of the new Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) is accompanied by formal ceremonies and meetings in Hong Kong and by massive nationwide celebrations in China. In Hong Kong, pro-democracy groups and parties stage peaceful rallies and demonstrations.
  • June 1997. The UK agrees to allow China to send 500 armed troops into Hong Kong shortly before the formal return of the territory to China on July 1. The move marks a significant concession by the UK.
  • June 1997.  As many as 50,000 people gather in Hong Kong on June 4 to commemorate China's crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. Organisers of the demonstration--which had been held annually since 1990 --say that the rally will be held in June 1998 despite the restoration of Chinese sovereignty over Hong Kong.  
  • December 1996. As expected, in a second round of voting held on Dec. 11, shipping magnate Tung Chee-hwa is formally elected as chief executive of the post-colonial Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).  
  • October 1996. Pro-democracy campaigners defy a warning by Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen, quoted in the Asian Wall Street Journal the previous day, that rallies marking the Chinese government's 1989 crackdown in Tiananmen Square in Beijing would not be tolerated in Hong Kong following the transfer of the colony from UK to Chinese rule in 1997. Governor Chris Patten accuses China of reneging on agreements relating to the transfer of sovereignty concerning freedom of speech and expression. Martin Lee, chair of the Democratic Party (DP), the largest group in the Legislative Council (Legco), states that he is "extremely concerned" and accuses China of framing "draconian" laws to bar all future dissent.
  • August 1996. Nominations open for membership of the China-backed Selection Committee, which will appoint the chief executive to head the territory's government after the 1997 transfer of sovereignty.
  • June 1996. The Chinese government indicates that it intends to enact laws to prohibit subversive activities, sedition, and incitement against China. An estimated 40,000 people attend a candlelit demonstration on June 4 in Hong Kong to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing. China prevents public remembrance of the anniversary on the mainland.
  • March 1996. Sino-UK relations over Hong Kong are strained when the Chinese government votes to replace the elected Legislative Council (Legco) by the provisional council after the handover of Hong Kong.
  • November 1995. Governor Chris Patten promises to reject any moves by China to establish a shadow Hong Kong government.
  • September 1995. Elections to the Legislative Council (Legco), the last due before the colony reverts to Chinese control in 1997, produce results which are widely regarded as a triumph for the pro-democracy parties and a disaster for their pro-Chinese counterparts.
  • June 1994. Governor Chris Patten's controversial package of political reforms is approved by the Legislative Council (Legco). The package aims to extend the franchise and increase the number of Legco seats open to direct election. It is bitterly opposed by the government of China which had given notice that, following its resumption of sovereignty in 1997, it would dismantle the reforms.
  • October 1992. The newly appointed Governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, delivers his first policy statement, setting out his agenda for the last five years of UK colonial rule over Hong Kong.
  • September 1991.  In the first direct elections to Hong Kong's parliament, the Legislative Council (Legco), held on Sept. 15, liberal democratic candidates win a sweeping victory, despite a turnout of only 39 per cent.
  • June 1991. Minor clashes between police and demonstrators occur during a protest rally by some 20,000 people, organized by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Democracy in China to mark the second anniversary of the June 1989 massacre of pro-democracy activists in Tiananmen Square, Beijing.
  • July 1990. The British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act, receives the royal assent, limiting the automatic granting of UK citizenship to the people of Hong Kong.
  • June 1990. The first anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 is marked by demonstrations.
  • April 1990. The National People's Congress approves the Basic Law which was to be Hong Kong's "mini-constitution" after 1997.
  • June 1985. A Joint Declaration is initialled in Beijing, by the Chinese and UK representatives who had been engaged since 1982 in negotiations on the future of Hong Kong.
  • September 1984. UK and Chinese officials hold further talks on the future of Hong Kong.
  • September 1982. UK and Chinese officials open negotiations on the future of Hong Kong.
  • July 1967. Large-scale anti-UK rioting breaks out.
  • December 1956. Serious rioting by supporters of the Chinese government who opposed UK colonial rule break out in mainland Hong Kong.
  • September 1945. UK forces re-occupy Hong Kong.
  • August 1941. Japanese forces occupy Hong Kong.
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