HONG KONG COMMEMORATES TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY WITH

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HONG KONG 001777

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/03/2032
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PREL HK CH
SUBJECT: HONG KONG COMMEMORATES TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY WITH
CELEBRATIONS AND PROTESTS

Classified By: Political Unit Chief Jeff Zaiser. Reasons: 1.4 (b,d)


1. (C) Summary: On July 1, Hong Kong celebrated the tenth
anniversary of the Special Administration Region's (SAR)
reversion to the PRC with a mixture of official celebrations
and the annual pro-democracy demonstration. PRC President Hu
Jintao helped mark the anniversary by personally swearing in
Chief Executive Donald Tsang (and his cabinet) for his second
term. The PRC President's official itinerary was tightly
choreographed to present his many different roles to the Hong
Kong public: on the one hand, he visited local families and
played ping-pong with local teenagers, but he was also
photographed inspecting the People's Liberation Army's Hong
Kong garrison. During a speech commemorating the tenth
anniversary of the HKSAR, Hu praised Hong Kong's successes
over the past decade but also emphasized the importance of
the "one country, two systems" framework, saying that "one
country" was the prerequisite for "two systems." Separately,
a crowd variously estimated at 20,000 to 68,000 people
marched through the city, led by democracy "stars" such as
Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen and former Chief Secretary Anson
Chan. Underlining the core issue for the demonstrators, the
rally organizer told us that the "Hong Kong people have
waited long enough. We're asking for (the implementation of
universal suffrage in) 2012." End Summary.


2. (C) Comment: In recent years, most attention on July 1
has focused on the pan-democratic demonstration, but the
tenth anniversary of reversion brought competition this year.
President Hu used his visit to send a message that Beijing
is keeping a close eye on Hong Kong's political development,
and also would like to see more patriotism and national
identity in the SAR. While the two sides have conflicting
views on the way forward, the weekend activities nevertheless
showed that freedom of speech and demonstration are alive and
well. The next major political development should be the
release of the government's "Green Paper," on or about July
11, that will lay out several options for democratization,
although it reportedly will not include a timetable. End
Comment.

Competing Activities on the Handover Anniversary
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3. (SBU) Hong Kong marked the tenth anniversary of the
reversion to the PRC with a busy series of events over a long
weekend. The June 29-July 1 visit of PRC President Hu Jintao
highlighted the official agenda, which included a pro-Beijing
parade on the morning of July 1, a flag-raising ceremony
officiated by the Chief Executive, the presentation of two
pandas from the central government, and a variety show at the
racecourse which included the People's Liberation Army's
Parachute Brigade descending by parachute into the stadium.

PRC President Delivers Clear Message
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4. (SBU) Among other activities, President Hu conducted the
July 1 "swearing in" ceremony for Chief Executive (CE) Donald
Tsang (and his cabinet members) for their new term of office.

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Tsang, re-elected in March by the Chief Executive Election
Committee, focused on economic issues in a speech following
the swearing-in ceremony; he pledged more infrastructure
investment and increased economic opportunities for the
underprivileged. Tsang also repeated his promise, made
during the CE election campaign, to resolve the issue of
universal suffrage by 2012. Local media have reported that
the HKG's "Green Paper" on constitutional development will be
released on July 11.


5. (SBU) Tsang's remarks, were, however, overshadowed by Hu's
first official visit to Hong Kong since his appointment as
PRC President. (President Hu last visited the HKSAR in 1999
as Vice President.) The PRC President's official itinerary
was tightly choreographed to present his many different roles
to the Hong Kong public: on the one hand, he visited local
families and played ping-pong with local teenagers, but he
was also photographed inspecting the People's Liberation
Army's Hong Kong garrison, the second time since the handover
that a mainland president has inspected the garrison.
Finally, in a sign of the continuing integration of the Hong
Kong and mainland economies, Hu also opened the Shenzhen-Hong
Kong Western Corridor, a new bridge and border crossing to
Shenzhen.


6. (SBU) The most significant aspect of Hu's visit, however,
were his remarks on Hong Kong's political development

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following the swearing in of the new government team. While
praising Hong Kong's successes over the past ten years, Hu
emphasized the "one country, two systems" concept, saying
that "one country" was the prerequisite for "two systems."
His remarks were consistent with NPC Chairman Wu Bangguo's
remarks on June 6: the central government controlled the
degree to which Hong Kong enjoyed autonomy. The PRC
President also urged the Hong Kong people to be more
pragmatic and to concentrate on developing the economy and
building a "harmonious society." "Only with continued
economic development can Hong Kong improve the life for its
people, maintain stability and develop a democratic system
that suits its actual condition," he added. Hu departed Hong
Kong on July 1 before the pro-democracy event started at 2:30
pm.

Democracy "Stars" Boost Turnout
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7. (C) The pan-democrats held their annual July 1
pro-democracy demonstration, which drew somewhere between
20,000 (police estimate) and 68,000 (organizers' claim)
protesters; a fairly solid turnout on a hot day with rain
threatening. Chris Yeung of the "South China Morning Post"
estimated the crowd at 40,000-50,000. As usual, the event
proceeded smoothly with no violence. Underlining the core
issue for the demonstrators, Civil Human Rights Convenor
Jackie Hung told us after the march, "The Hong Kong people
have waited long enough. We're asking for (the
implementation of universal suffrage in) 2012."


8. (SBU) Most of Hong Kong's democracy "stars" led the
demonstration: Cardinal Joseph Zen (marching the entire route
from Victoria Park to the Central Government Offices, for the
first time); former Chief Secretary Anson Chan; veteran
democracy leaders Szeto Wah and Martin Lee; and "Apple Daily"
publisher Jimmy Lai. According to organizers, the
participation of Zen and Chan, had boosted interest in the
demonstration. Zen had participated each year since 2003 in
prayer sessions before the marches, and did so again this
year, but had never marched before. This year, he told the
media he was "in no mood to celebrate while people fought for
democracy." Zen's participation in the democracy rally has
already spurred criticism from the Chinese Catholic Patriotic
Association. Liu Bainian, a Deputy Chairman of the Patriotic
Association, criticized Zen's actions as not conducive to
Hong Kong's stability and unhelpful to Sino-Vatican
relations. The demonstration came a day after Pope Benedict
released a long-awaited letter to Chinese Catholics calling
on Beijing to engage in a "respectful and constructive
dialogue" with the Vatican on the normalization of relations.


9. (SBU) As usual, the demonstrators displayed a wide variety
of banners and slogans addressing both longstanding issues
and more recent local controversies: "democracy is not a gift
from Beijing;" "one person, one vote;" assess and resolve the
June 4, 1989 incident; "save Radio Television Hong Kong" (a
government-controlled but editorially independent
broadcaster); family unification for abode seekers; job
creation for the unemployed; and safeguard academic freedom.
The Falun Gong group (and accompanying marching band) also
participated, as usual, notwithstanding media reports that
Falun Gong adherents from Taiwan had been turned back at the
Hong Kong airport.
Cunningham