NDI survey mission visits Hong Kong in February 2002 and Promise of Democratization Report 6

The NDI sent a survey mission to Hong Kong in February 2002. The mission comprised:

·         Eric Bjornlund, NDI Senior Advisor and former NDI Senior Associate and Regional Director for Asia; and

·         Christine Chung, NDI Senior Program Officer.

They met with government officials, including Chief Secretary Donald Tsang, Secretary of Justice Elsie Leung and Constitutional Affairs Secretary Michael Suen; political party leaders and legislators, including Martin Lee of the Democratic Party and Tsang Yok Sing of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong; nongovernmental organization representatives; academics; journalists; diplomats; and others.

Promise of Democratization Report 6#

The findings of this mission were documented in:

·         The Promise of Democratization in Hong Kong: The 2002 Chief Executive Election and the Transition Five Years after Reversion. NDI Hong Kong Report #6. 11 March 2002¹. 

The contacts for the report were listed as Peter M. Manikas, Director of Asia Programs or Christine Chung. Senior Program Officer.

Promise of Democratization Report 6 cover

Key findings of the mission

The key findings of this mission were:

Article 23

·         A potential issue on the horizon involves Article 23 of the Basic Law, which requires Hong Kong to enact laws “to prohibit treason, secession, sedition, [and] subversion against the Central People’s Government . . . .” (Page 3, repeated on Page 4).

Desire for democracy in Hong Kong

·         By all accounts … democracy rates relatively low on people’s list of concerns (Page 13).

Implementing democracy in Hong Kong

·         … the Basic Law does not provide initially for fully democratic elections in the HKSAR.

·         During a transition period of 10 years, the Basic Law provides for incremental increases in the number of directly elected seats in the Legislative Council (LegCo), “in accordance with the principle of gradual and orderly progress,” until a decision is made about fully democratic elections.

·         The Basic Law declares “the ultimate aim is the election of all members of the Legislative Council by universal suffrage”

·         While the Basic Law does not specify how the chief executive will be selected in 2007 and thereafter, it clearly states, “the ultimate aim is the selection of the Chief Executive by universal suffrage upon nomination by a broadly representative nominating committee in accordance with democratic procedures.” (Page 5).

Public Opinion

·         The Chief Executive himself discounts the value of democracy and in lieu of representative institutions, he would rely on polls to assess public opinion.

·          In Tung’s campaign statement, he pledged to “put in place an effective opinion survey system to ensure the highest level of Government awareness of community attitude, sensitivity, and reaction to policy initiatives.”

·         Gauging public opinion is common practice for political leaders almost everywhere, and Hong Kong already produces many polls (Page 13).

Taiwan

·         Hong Kong’s success under the “one country, two systems” paradigm could have an impact on the eventual resolution of the stalemate over Taiwan (Page 5).

NDI’s Conclusion

·         There is cause for concern about the promise of democratization in Hong Kong five years on … public complacency and the daunting nature of the work ahead in negotiating the constitutional changes necessary to realize universal suffrage pose considerable challenges (Page 22).

Finally,

·         Hong Kong citizens have the right to democracy regardless of where they might rank it in their list of priorities in various public opinion polls.

·         The right to democratic elections is unambiguous in the ICCPR and according to international standards.

·         Where Hong Kong has led with the example of its success under one of the finest rule of law regimes in Asia, it could similarly serve to assure the mainland of the value of a fully democratic system (Page 22).

Reference

¹The Promise of Democratization in Hong Kong: The 2002 Chief Executive Election and the Transition Five Years after Reversion. NDI Hong Kong Report #6. 11 March 2002 Link to all Promise of Democratization Reports