Pro-Beijing Groups Dominate Hk Body

The 400-member Selection Committee, established in Beijing at the weekend, will also decide membership of a provisional legislature, which Beijing plans to install in place of the existing elected Legislative Council.

According to participants, a decision on the chief executive, as the post-colonial governor will be known, is expected on December 11. The composition of the provisional legislature is due to be revealed a few weeks later. Chinese officials said that the formation of the Selection Committee, which comprises Hong Kong residents, marked a crucial step in the transfer of sovereignty.

Describing the process as fair and democratic, they claimed that the body drew representation from across Hong Kong society. The members are shouldering a great historic mission, said Qian Qichen, foreign minister. This is a very broad based representative committee, added Chen Ziying, deputy director of Chinas Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office.

 

In Hong Kong, however, the process came under fire from pro-democracy groups. The Democratic party, the largest group in the legislature, dismissed the Selection Committee as an inner circle of pro-Beijing figures and reiterated its opposition to the scrapping of the existing legislature.

Two pro-democracy activists were expelled from Beijing at the weekend as they sought to submit a petition criticising the selection procedures.

Among the 400 members of the Selection Committee, the pro-China Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DABHK) and the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce are strongly represented.

So, too, are local business magnates, with Li Ka-shing, head of Cheung Kong, and Lee Shau-kee, head of Henderson Land, among several property tycoons on the body.

Political commentators in Hong Kong pointed to the prospect of factionalism within the committee and said its membership favoured two of the four serious contenders for the post of chief executive. Tung Chee-hwa, the shipping tycoon, has strong backing in the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, while Sir Ti Liang Yang, the former chief justice, is thought to have backing from the DABHK and the Federation of Trade Unions.

Composition of the body was decided in a secret ballot by members of the Preparatory Committee, the 150-member Beijing-appointed group which is overseeing the handover