BEIJING BASIC LAW "GUARDIANS" SET CONDITIONS FOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HONG KONG 001816

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DEPARTMENT FOR EAP, EAP/CM
NSC FOR DENNIS WILDER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/02/2031
TAGS: PGOV PREL CH HK
SUBJECT: BEIJING BASIC LAW "GUARDIANS" SET CONDITIONS FOR
HONG KONG'S UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE


Classified By: E/P Section Chief Simon Schuchat; Reasons 1.4 (b,d)


1. (C) Summary: On April 27, the Hong Kong press reported
comments by PRC members of the Hong Kong Basic Law Committee
at a Beijing forum. Basic Law drafter Xu Chongde challenged
the value and usefulness of democracy, while recently
appointed Hong Kong Basic Law Committee member and Tsinghua
University School of Law Deputy Dean Wang Zhenmin asserted
that Hong Kong would not be ready for universal suffrage
unless and until six conditions were met, including passage
of the "national security" legislation called for in Article
23 of the Basic Law. Hong Kong political leaders have
characterized the comments as either tactical political moves
or blatant attempts to block achievement of universal
suffrage. Financial Secretary Henry Tang told the Consul
General that the conditions represented an attempt by Beijing
to set the framework for debate on political development in
the 2007 Chief Executive (CE) election. Comment: Five of
Wang's six conditions are vague and familiar, but specifying
a need for Hong Kong to pass the Article 23 national security
legislation in order to qualify for universal suffrage is
both concrete and, at least this bluntly stated, new. It
almost seems like a trade is being proposed. End Summary and
Comment.


2. (C) On April 28, several Hong Kong papers accorded
front-page coverage to comments by mainland legal experts on
the future implementation of universal suffrage and
democratization in Hong Kong. Specifically, at a Beijing
forum marking the sixteenth anniversary of the promulgation
of the Hong Kong Basic Law, Basic Law drafter Xu Chongde
challenged the value and usefulness of democracy, noting that
elected leaders such as Hitler, Mussolini, and Taiwan's Chen
Shui-bian were only "experts at inciting people's emotions."
Xu added that there have been few outstanding and talented
U.S. Presidents in more than two hundred years of democracy.
He believed that universal suffrage could only be introduced
in Hong Kong when there was a guarantee that "patriots" would
be elected.

Six Conditions
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3. (C) At the same forum, Wang Zhenmin, recently appointed
Hong Kong Basic Law Committee member and deputy dean of the
Tsinghua University School of Law asserted that Hong Kong

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would not be ready for universal suffrage unless and until
six conditions were met: first, there must be a community
consensus endorsed by Beijing; second, it must be certain
that universal suffrage is beneficial to economic
development; third, the national security legislation
specified by Article 23 of the Basic Law must be enacted;
fourth, there must be sufficient civic education to inspire
patriotism; fifth, Hong Kong must enjoy a new "constructive,
positive, and cooperative" political culture; and sixth, Hong
Kong must have ample time for "adequate ideological
preparations" for participatory politics.

Pro-Beijingers Supportive
--------------


4. (C) Since the press coverage, Hong Kong political leaders
have characterized the comments as either tactical political
moves or blatant attempts to block achievement of universal
suffrage. On the positive side, on April 28 Financial
Secretary Henry Tang told the Consul General that the

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reported statements represented an attempt by Beijing to set
the framework for the Chief Executive (CE) election in 2007.
According to Tang, whoever ran against incumbent CE Tsang
could not campaign against either his governance or Hong
Kong's economic vitality, so they would be forced to focus on
the issues of democracy and political reform. More
fundamentally, on April 28 Hong Kong Basic Law Committee
member Doctor Raymond Wu told poloff that the "political
level" of Hong Kong was "very immature." While mutual
understanding between Beijing and Hong Kong has improved
significantly, at present neither side adequately understood
the other. In that context, the comments by Professor Wang
reflected Wang's doubts that universal suffrage would lead to
election of the "right" person. Wu personally believed that
the concerns expressed by Wang were important and relevant;
otherwise, he said, Hong Kong could suffer from a chaotic and
inefficient form of democracy similar to that of India.

Democrats Angry
--------------


5. (C) Various pan-democrats reacted sharply to the comments

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from the Beijing forum, characterizing them as attempts to
dampen aspirations for universal suffrage in Hong Kong. On
April 29, Legco member Ronnie Tong of the Civic Party
observed to the press that there could be no excuse for
further delay of universal suffrage, regardless of progress
on the "six conditions." On May 2, Hong Kong Democratic
Party Vice Chairman Chan King-ming told poloff that the
recent comments by PRC Basic Law Committee members reflected
the problem that the "people up there" were "not ready to
give up power." Chan believed the published comments
represented a "very carefully planned and deliberate effort"
by the PRC Government, following the March meeting of the NPC
and prior to the June 4 anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen
Square suppression, to comment on political developments in
Hong Kong. Chan believed that the content of the comments,
however, would be perceived as "nonsense" by the people of
Hong Kong, whom he said would "not be so stupid as to select
(a representative) who could not talk to Beijing."
Cunningham