November 15, 1996
Web posted at: 3:15 p.m. EST (2015 GMT)
HONG KONG (CNN) -- While demonstrators protested outside, a committee hand-picked by the Chinese government narrowed the field of candidates to head Hong Kong's provisional government Friday.
China's foreign minister hailed the session as "the start of real democracy," but critics called the replacement of Hong Kong's freely elected legislature with a provisional government a step backwards.
The winner of the race, to be decided by the committee in a December 11 runoff, will lead Hong Kong when it reverts to Beijing's control on July 1.
The establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China's name for Hong Kong's future political status, "is the start of real democracy in Hong Kong, and not the end of democracy," Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen said at the opening of the inaugural session of the Special Selection Committee.
The 400-member committee, made up of Hong Kong residents chosen by the Chinese government, is charged with the task of selecting the Hong Kong's future legislators and chief executive.
Friday, it chose three candidates to stand in the December runoff. The three are: shipping tycoon Tung Chee-hwa, former Chief Justice Ti Liang Yang and businessman Peter Woo.
As the committee met, a small but vocal group of pro- democracy demonstrators protested the process. One banner called it "a great step backwards for democracy."
Some of the 40 protesters clashed with police and a few rushed into the Hong Kong Convention Center where the committee was meeting. Police chased them up six flights of escalators before apprehending them.
Qian addressed criticism of the process in his opening statement.
"If you do not believe the Chinese people in Hong Kong have the ability to rule Hong Kong properly that is an attitude left by old colonialism," he said. "Hong Kong people can do Hong Kong properly you must have this confidence."
The final representative of colonial rule, Gov. Chris Patten, previously expressed his opposition to the selection process.
Last month, in his final opening address to the legislature, Patten said, "A 'provisional' ... legislature is bad enough. The suggestion that it could operate in parallel with this council makes a bad idea even worse."
British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind also registered his discontent. "China would have to explain to Hong Kong and to the world why they had chosen to replace a body for which more than a million Hong Kong people voted by one chosen by a hand-picked electorate of only 400," he said in London.
But there is little Patten or Rifkind can do to halt the formation of the provisional legislature. By the end of the year, the selection committee will have done its work and Hong Kong's future leaders will have been chosen.
Correspondent May Lee and Reuterscontributed to this report.
Related stories:
- China to choose Hong Kong chief - October 28, 1996
- Hong Kong ceremony foreshadows end of an era - August 26, 1996
- Hong Kong: Fears, cheers about China's takeover - June 30, 1996
http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9611/15/hong.kong/index.html
