AP: Opponents Of HK Anti-Subversion Bill Organize Fast

June 27, 2003

(Clearwisdom.net) HONG KONG --A planned national security law won't harm Hong Kong's freedoms, Hong Kong's chief secretary for administration, Donald Tsang, said Friday after the U.S. Congress criticized the legislation that critics fear will harm civil liberties.

His comments come as pro-democracy politicians launched a 100-hour fast in the countdown to a protest that is expected to draw tens of thousands of people opposed to the anti-subversion bill next Tuesday - the sixth anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China.

After the U.S. House of Representatives passed a nonbinding motion urging the Hong Kong government to withdraw the anti-subversion bill, Tsang said officials would try to persuade American leaders that the legislation would do no harm.

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U.S. lawmakers voted 426-1 Thursday on the motion condemning any restrictions on freedoms of thought, expression or association in Hong Kong. The White House had previously expressed worries about the law.

The U.S. government has long said it supports freedom in Hong Kong, which has been governed by a so-called "one country, two systems" arrangement allowing Western-style liberties since Britain returned the former colony to China on July 1, 1997.

The national security bill bans subversion, sedition and other crimes against the state and strengthens police powers. Critics fear it could be used to abridge freedoms of speech, the press and assembly or to target certain groups, such as the meditation movement Falun Gong, which is banned on the mainland but tolerated here.

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A group of 11 pro-democracy lawmakers and activists on Friday began what they said would be a 100-hour fast at a downtown ferry pier to protest the bill.

"We hope that by this hunger strike, we'll arouse more public support," said Albert Ho, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party, Hong Kong's biggest opposition group.

The group will end their four-day fast on Tuesday, in time for a massive protest march against the anti-subversion bill.

Hong Kong's leader, Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, appealed Thursday for support of the legislation and warned that the protests could hurt investor confidence by giving the impression of political instability.

Pro-democracy forces have argued that the anti-subversion legislation itself will damage Hong Kong's image as an international city where information can flow freely.