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| Tuesday, 27 April 2004 |
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HK leader calls for calm after China rules out full democracy HONG KONG, Monday (AFP) Hong Kong chief executive Tung Chee-hwa Monday called on the public to be "calm and rational" after China ruled out a transition to full democracy in the former British colony by 2007. "I urge various quarters of the community to be calm and rational and set aside differences, disputes and pre-conceived notions ... and strive for a consensus on the constitutional development in Hong Kong," he told reporters at a press conference. "The overriding concern of the central government is to maintain the well-being of Hong Kong ... our fundamental interest is to ensure economic development and also to maintain a sound relationship between the central government and Hong Kong," he said. China's official Xinhua news agency reported earlier that "the method of universal suffrage shall not apply to" the election of the chief executive in 2007 and the election of members of the Hong Kong Legislative Council in 2008. Currently the territory's chief executive is picked by an 800-member election committee that answers to Beijing and oversees a legislature in which only 30 of the 60 members are directly elected. |
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