Jan 1 2014: Hong Kong Rises - Thousands march against Chinese government.

[shuttler]

Well, India democracy is utterly broken. Its utterly broken because of 2 major reason.

1) India is a "country" stitch together by British railroads, language and culture.
2) A parliamentary democracy will not work in a country the size of India.

Yeah we know pretty well what that country is.

Freedom is a basic human need. But not as basic as food, clothing, shelter and sanitation.

Freedom and Responsibility must go hand in hand
You cant just have freedom without knowing and taking responsilities

 

[dray]

HongKong is ruled under CCP, the central goverment will make the final decision.

Freedom like acting against the central goverment is not neccessarily at all, Xi is doing well.

If Xi is doing well then people will elect him, but what if Xi (or CCP) does very badly going forward? How do you remove him?

Would you say that this is what the people of Hong Kong wants?

Well, India democracy is utterly broken. Its utterly broken because of 2 major reason.

1) India is a "country" stitch together by British railroads, language and culture.
2) A parliamentary democracy will not work in a country the size of India.

Freedom is a basic human need. But not as basic as food, clothing, shelter and sanitation.

First, I don't think you are qualified enough to comment about Indian democracy, and the thread is not about India.

Second, the country you migrated to, USA, is a democracy, so the basic needs of people, like food, clothing, shelter, sanitation, etc. are not fulfilled there?

Just like 1962?

No, unlike 1962.

 

[S10]

Good to know its ok to give up basic rights for wealth.

No, it's not. As society develops further, the people will naturally demand more rights. Don't attempt to twist my message. However, "freedom" is nearly useless to those living in poverty struggling to house, feed and clothe themselves. Freedom is a luxury first and foremost, not a necessity. Singapore has one of the highest living standards in the world, and it is widely considered to be an authoritarian regime.

Furthermore, a functioning democracy needs an educated population, otherwise you would look like Pakistan and India, where it hinders progress.

 

[ChineseTiger1986]

that's why I say CCP is evil.

Why you won't destroy your enemies? While let the enemies bury you?

CPC will indeed target at the KMT leadership once the military unification happened, a 70 years troublemaker.

 

[帅的一匹]

Then it is important that HK people should not let those few thousand people hijack the agenda.

HK is part of China, it is not hard to see that addressing China central government concerns is important for HK long term prosperity.

Is it that hard for HK people to choose someone from HK that can address both China national interest and HK interest?

Is those concern from Chinese central government is in conflict with the interest of HK? Or are they in common?

Unless you guys think the interests of Hongkong And central government is contradictory. You are simply asking too much. as a part of PRC, you just enjoy the benefit and take no responsibility?

So you KMT guys are looking for another war with CPC?

Go ahead, i hope CPC will exterminate your kind this time.

KMT is not worth fighting, they will surrender soon.

 

[Kyle Sun]

If Xi is doing well then people will elect him, but what if Xi (or CCP) does very badly going forward? How do you remove him?



First, I don't think you are qualified enough to comment about Indian democracy, and the thread is not about India.

Second, the country you migrated to, USA, is a democracy, so the basic needs of people, like food, clothing, shelter, sanitation, etc. are not fulfilled there?



No, unlike 1962.

XI can not satisfies everyone in China just like Obama can not satisfies everyone in US , or Manmohan Singh can not satisfies everyone in India.

 

[northeast]

These traitors should get shot immediately.In the end that's what they have wanted.damn CCP cowards.

 

[faithfulguy]

If Xi is doing well then people will elect him, but what if Xi (or CCP) does very badly going forward? How do you remove him?



First, I don't think you are qualified enough to comment about Indian democracy, and the thread is not about India.

Second, the country you migrated to, USA, is a democracy, so the basic needs of people, like food, clothing, shelter, sanitation, etc. are not fulfilled there?



No, unlike 1962.

The statement I made about "India made up of countries being stitched together by British railroad" was taken from a statement made by Lee Kwan Yew, former premier of Singapore. He is regarded as the foremost statesman in Asia. The only person regard as "mentor" by the father of China's economic reform, Deng XiaoPing. If he stated that India was stitch together by British rail line. Its a valid statement that should be evaluate by Indians and non Indians academic, historian and political experts alike base on his stature as the elder statesman of Asia.

 

[bolo]

These traitors should get shot immediately.In the end that's what they have wanted.damn CCP cowards.

What traitors are you referring to?

 

[dray]

XI can not satisfies everyone in China just like Obama can not satisfies everyone in US , or Manmohan Singh can not satisfies everyone in India.

In a democratic system he doesn't need to satisfy everyone in China, he can be re-elected again if majority is satisfied. The issue is, Without a democratic system you have no option to remove a bad leader, at least not without a considerable bloodshed.

 

[dray]

The statement I made about "India made up of countries being stitched together by British railroad" was taken from a statement made by Lee Kwan Yew, former premier of Singapore. He is regarded as the foremost statesman in Asia. The only person regard as "mentor" by the father of China's economic reform, Deng XiaoPing. If he stated that India was stitch together by British rail line. Its a valid statement that should be evaluate by Indians and non Indians academic, historian and political experts alike base on his stature as the elder statesman of Asia.

What a handful of people say about India from their biased position doesn't become the reality. Autocratic Governments always see vibrant democracies as a threat and try to undermine them.

 

[Kyle Sun]

In a democratic system he doesn't need to satisfy everyone in China, he can be re-elected again if majority is satisfied. The issue is, Without a democratic system you have no option to remove a bad leader, at least not without a considerable bloodshed.

Okay , SO now some HK people protest the central GOV of CHina . This means XI is a bad leader ?

 

[ephone]

So???

HK has more than 10 million, I think.

There are always some idiots there.

(Reuters) - Thousands protested in Hong Kong on Wednesday pressing China to allow full democracy in the city as a battle intensifies over Beijing's attempts to control the outcome of a planned direct election for the city's leader in 2017.

Beijing had promised direct elections in the former British colony as the goal for 2017, but the devil is in the details of the rules governing who can run.

Pressure has been building between democratic forces in the financial hub, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997, and China's stability-obsessed Communist Party leaders who fear a rival democrat being voted into office.

Protesters at the annual New Year's Day democracy rally shouted slogans demanding full democracy in 2017, with a key condition being the open nominations of candidates so that anyone, including China critics, can run for office.

But Chinese officials and leftist newspapers have rejected that, citing the city's mini-constitution that states all nominees must be endorsed by a 1,200-strong election committee, which is stacked with Beijing loyalists.

"There's more and more interference (from Beijing)," said Tsang Fan-yu, a designer who was at Wednesday's protest with his seven-year-old son for their sixth consecutive year.

"We have to come out to make our voices heard. The form of democracy Beijing wants is unacceptable. It's fake."

A cluster of banners read "Real Universal Suffrage. No pre-screened election", while protesters also called on the city's embattled and pro-Beijing leader, Leung Chun-ying, to step down after a series of scandals.

"We want to see Hong Kong people have a genuine choice in electing their leaders," said Anson Chan, a respected former head of the civil service, who was at the rally.

Discord over the city's democratic future could culminate in a protest this summer called "Occupy Central", seeking to shut down the central business district of one of Asia's most important financial centers.

"No direct election? See you in Central!" read one of the banners.

A New Year civil referendum was also launched to gauge the public's preferences for the 2017 poll, with some 50,000 Hong Kong residents having voted by late afternoon.

"Hong Kong's political future has now come to a critical moment," said Johnson Yeung, one of the rally organizers. "The 2014 New Year's Day rally will become the first field of battle between the public and the government."

Source: Thousands march in Hong Kong in escalating battle for democracy| Reuters

 

[Kolaps]

My best wishes are with the freedom loving people of HK, freedom is coming to China.

Freedom is just a political slogan, it has nothing to do with reality on the ground.

The more advanced a country and more civilized the society, it means more laws and order, and that means less-freedom.

You have more freedom in the lawless jungles of Amazon than on the orderly street of Japan. You have more freedom in the brutal road of China than in the orderly road of US.

The real sense of freedom in personal sense, has something to do with the financial ability. To be honest, the wealthier Chinese in the mainland have far freedom than in the poor Indian in democratic India. Money can buy freedom. With money you can do many things, including financing a vacation to foreign countries, stay in five stars hotel, eat many kind of delicious food, buying any goods you like, etc. Not to mention that with money, you can get political power.

 

[JSCh]

HK suffrage march sees lower turnout

Turnout fell in an annual New Year's Day rally in Hong Kong to call for universal suffrage in electing the chief executive of the Special Administrative Region.

Organizers of the rally said they were expecting 50,000 protesters to march from Victoria Park to Central, but police said that at most 11,100 attended, according to AFP.

Johnson Yeung, convener of the organizer the Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF), told the Global Times that the rally aims to push for universal suffrage without candidates having been "pre-screened" by a nominating committee.

"This will give authorities a clear message that we will go to great lengths for democracy," Yeung said.

The CHRF also conducted a "New Year Civil Referendum Project," Wednesday online and at the park in which 62,000 people were polled on the principles of electing the region's chief executive."

Beijing has promised a referendum in Hong Kong in 2017. The regional government has conducted a five-month public consultation about the electoral system, including how the nominating committee should be formed.

Currently, Hong Kong's leader is elected by a 1,200-strong committee.

Zhu Shihai, a professor from the Beijing-based Central Institute of Socialism, said Yeung's proposal for so-called citizen nomination is against the Basic Law of Hong Kong, which stipulates that a candidate must be nominated by a nomination committee first, voted for by legitimate citizens and appointed by the central government.

Zhu said Wednesday's rally, though not a particularly large-scale event, showed that critics were trying to pressure the central government, as they fear they will be removed from the electoral process, as the central government has emphasized on many occasions that the chief executive of Hong Kong must be a patriot.

During a meeting with Hong Kong legislators in 2013, Qiao Xiaoyang, chairman of the National People's Congress Law Committee, said that the central government had made it clear that subversive forces must not be allowed to govern Hong Kong.

"It's highly necessary to demand so. If the Hong Kong leader does not stick to the one-China policy, it would jeopardize the stability and security of our nation," said Zhang Dinghuai, deputy director of the Center for Basic Laws of Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions at Shenzhen University, Guangdong Province.

Since China resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997, China has implemented the "one country, two systems" policy under the Basic Law.

But critics have accused the chief executives elected since 1997 of being too "pro-Beijing." Discontent over corruption scandals, sky-high housing prices, and especially the impact from the growing presence of tourists, students and business people from the Chinese mainland, have added to complaints.

Police took away at least four protesters from the march for scuffling with officers, members of the same activist group that trespassed into a People's Liberation Army (PLA) barracks at Central on Thursday, the South China Morning Post reported.

The four were members of a group calling for policy priority for Hongkongers.

The PLA told police that the four, carrying a colonial flag, broke into the barracks after ignoring the guard's warnings.

Global Times - HK suffrage march sees lower turnout