Hong Kong's Occupy Movement Calls For Dialogue With Beijing


2014.11.06
china-hk-admiralty-tents-nov-6-2014.jpg A man (R) walks by tents at the encampment of pro-democracy protesters on an occupied highway in the Admiralty district of Hong Kong, Nov. 6, 2014.
AFP

The influential Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS) stepped up calls for direct talks with officials in Beijing over protesters' demands for full democracy in the former British colony, saying the group isn't looking for trouble.

Student leaders of the five-week-long pro-democracy movement, which is encamped on major highways and intersections in downtown Hong Kong in a bid to win public nomination of candidates in 2017 elections, have been discussing a visit to Beijing all week, though concrete plans have yet to emerge.

"If the Hong Kong government believes that this problem can't be resolved here in Hong Kong, and that only Beijing can address [the isssue], then I think a trip to Beijing is absolutely necessary," said Alex Chow, leader the HKFS—the most popular political grouping in the city.

But he said protest leaders want to send a positive message, and may avoid Beijing during the leaders' meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, which ends on Nov. 13.

"Our purpose is to have a dialogue, and not provocation," Chow said. "That's why everyone thinks it might be acceptable to go to Beijing after APEC is over."

The move comes as the Occupy Central protesters, who have blocked three sections of highway in downtown areas of Hong Kong since Sept. 28, say they won't leave unless Beijing withdraws an Aug. 31 ruling by China's National People's Congress (NPC) on Hong Kong's electoral reforms.

Some protesters are also calling for the resignation of embattled chief executive C.Y. Leung over the use of tear gas and pepper spray on umbrella-wielding protesters, after which the Occupy protests swelled to hundreds of thousands at their height.

Leung also raised hackles last month when he said the system must be weighted to prevent people on a low income from dominating Hong Kong politics.

The NPC announcement said that while all five million Hong Kong voters will cast a ballot in the election for Leung's successor, they will only be allowed to choose between two or three candidates approved by a pro-Beijing committee.

The 1,200-strong election committee, which voted Leung to power in 2010 with just 689 votes, has just 7.5 percent representation of pan-democratic politicians, far less that the broad popular support those groups enjoy.

Current pan-democratic lawmakers in the territory's Legislative Council (LegCo) were voted in with some 56 percent of the popular vote, compared with just 44 percent won by pro-Beijing politicians.

Broker

Students are currently trying to find a highly placed pro-Beijing intermediary to broker the trip on their behalf, Chow said.

The students have repeatedly rejected government offers following a live televised debate with Hong Kong officials last month to become more involved in consultation over future reform, and to consider ways to tweak the election arrangements without rejecting the Aug. 31 ruling.

A split is reportedly emerging between the founders of the Occupy movement, who are scholars and lecturers, and the protests centered around the students, many of whom are still in their teens.

Next Media tycoon and long-time pro-democracy supporter Jimmy Lai warned that Beijing wouldn't agree to a meeting unless students steered clear of public protest while in the Chinese capital.

"If they go there and attack them, so as to bring this issue to the attention of even more people, so China will be further condemned by others...what sort of a result will they get?" Lai said.

"You would need a very strong momentum across the whole movement to be able to afford such an aggressive move," he said.

And Zhou Fengsuo, a former student leader of the 1989 pro-democracy movement on Tiananmen Square, said Hong Kong's "Umbrella Movement" has already won a major victory in the hearts and minds of voters.

"A lot of people won't talk about the Umbrella Revolution for fear of antagonising the central government, but I think the revolution has already happened," Zhou told RFA.

"An entire generation has been revolutionized; they may have had some vague ideas in the past, but now they have the experience of this movement behind them, they are much more aware about the nature of their own power and of political power," he said.

"In particular [this is true of] the younger generation."

Beijing visit 'unnecessary'

Across the internal border in Guangzhou, Leung said there was "no need" for the students to visit Beijing, however.

"The central government has a clear grasp of the different opinions in Hong Kong, so a visit to Beijing is unnecessary," Leung said.

"It won't be lost on everyone that they keep bringing this up, and I think that will start to have a negative effect on the impact of the Occupy Central movement," he said.

"And that will just get worse and worse."

Anti-Occupy protesters say they are gaining wider support among the general public, who have said they wish to see a return to business as usual.

Meanwhile, protesters face the possibility of forced eviction from their campsites, should police move to clear barricades from the highway following civil injunctions brought by the transportation industry.

Reported by Lin Jing for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Yang Fan for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

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