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The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is headed by its Chief Executive, the head of government. This office is currently held by Donald Tsang, who was elected on 16 June 2005. Tsang had held the post of Chief Secretary for Administration previously. He assumed his post on 24 June 2005 in Beijing, China; he will finish the remaining portion of Tung Chee Hwa's last term, which ends on 30 June 2007, according to the interpretation of Annex I and Article 46 by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. The election of a new Chief Executive by the 800-member Election Committee was expected to be held on 10 July 2005. On 16 June 2005, Donald Tsang was acclaimed the winner, as the only candidate securing the required 100 nominations from members of the election committee. Tung Chee Hwa, the first Chief Executive, assumed office on 1 July 1997, following his election by a 400-member electoral college. For the second five-year term of the Chief Executive which began in July 2002, Tung was the only nominated candidate and therefore acclaimed. The PRC set up a Provisional Legislative Council (PLC) in 1996 just before the handover, where it moved to Hong Kong to have its meetings after the handover. It reverted some laws passed by the colonial Legislative Council, which was formed by means of universal suffrage since 1995. The PLC passed some new laws, such as the Public Order Ordinance, which required permission from police to hold a demonstration where the number of people who participates exceeds 30. Legislative Council elections were held on 24 May 1998, 10 September 2000, and again on 12 September 2004, with the next election scheduled for 2008. According to the Basic Law, Hong Kong's "mini-constitution", the present third term of the Legislative Council has 30 seats directly elected from geographical constituencies, and 30 seats elected from functional constituencies. The 1998, 2000 and 2004 Legislative Council elections were seen as free, open, and widely contested, despite discontent among mainly 'pro-democratic' politicians, who contended that the functional constituency elections and the Election Committee elections (for 1998 and 2000) were undemocratic, as they consider that the electorate for these seats is too narrow. The civil service of Hong Kong maintains its quality and neutrality following its tradition in the colonial times, operating without discernible direction from Beijing. Many government and administrative operations are located in Central on Hong Kong Island near the historical location of Victoria City, the site of the original British settlements. The right of abode issue sparked debates in 1999, while the controversy over Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23 was the focus of politics in Hong Kong between 2002 and 2003, culminating in a peaceful mass demonstration (over 500,000 demonstrators) on 1 July 2003, after which the government still tried to pass the law to the Legislative Council. But one of the major pro-government parties refused to vote for passing the bill. Thus the government found that the bill could not be passed. So it shelved the drafted law brought forth by Article 23. The focus of controversies shifted to the issue of universal suffrage towards the end of 2003 and in 2004, which was the slogan of another mass demonstration on 1 July 2004. On 24 September 2005, 25 Hong Kong pro-democracy Legco members, some of whom were previously labeled as traitors by Beijing after the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown and barred from entering the mainland, crossed the border into the southern province of Guangdong, following an unprecedented invitation by the PRC. The invitation was generally regarded as one of the greatest goodwill gestures from the PRC to the Hong Kong democrats since the Tiananmen Square massacre. On 4 December 2005, a demonstration was organized by the Civil Human Rights Front and pro-democracy lawmakers to demand a timetable for universal suffrage to be included in political reform proposals for the 2007 and 2008 elections for the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council respectively. The turnout was reported to be 63,000 by the police, and at least 250,000 by the organizers. The proposals would have doubled the size of the election committee and added ten seats to the Legislative Council (5 geographic and 5 functional seats for district councilors). On 22 December 2005, the reforms, proposed by the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Donald Tsang, were defeated by the pro-democracy camp after they failed to reach the necessary 2/3 threshold with 34 votes in favor and 24 opposed. In the wake of the defeat, China and the Chief Executive have indicated that reforms will not be possible until the 2012 elections. The defeat also did little to blunt Tsang's popularity, with his approval ratings only dropping from 82 to 79% in the wake of the vote. After the transfer of sovereignty, Hong Kong maintains its own delegation but changes its designation from "Hong Kong" to "Hong Kong, China" in most international organizations, such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, and to international sporting events, such as the Olympic Games. Only the defense and the diplomatic relations of Hong Kong are the responsibilities of the Central People's Government in Beijing. |
Hong Kong Information: Inside
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