Occupy Central with Love and Peace

Organisers of the movement (from the left Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, Dr Benny Tai Yiu-ting, and Chan Kin-man) published their statement at a press conference on 27 March 2013.

Occupy Central is a proposed nonviolent occupation protest which will take place in Central, Hong Kong in July 2014 for universal suffrage.

The proposal is initiated by Benny Tai Yiu-ting, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Hong Kong, in January 2013. He sees at least 10,000 citizens mobilized to take over Central in July 2014 if plans for universal suffrage in the 2017 chief executive and 2020 legislative elections as the central people's government promised in 2007 have not been firmed up by then.

It was shown that the occupy movement will most likely happen after Qiao Xiaoyang, chairman of the National People's Congress Law Committee stated that chief executive candidates must be persons who love the country and love Hong Kong and do not confront the central government, which means the opposition pro-democracy camp, who had the support of the 60% Hong Kong people, cannot be candidate.

Background

Main article: Democratic development in Hong Kong

The pro-democracy camp has been asking the Hong Kong SAR government and Central People's government for the full implementation of universal suffrage as promised in the Hong Kong Basic Law Article 45, which gives the requirements for electing the Chief Executive. Annex I does likewise in a more specific manner.

"The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be selected by election or through consultations held locally and be appointed by the Central People's Government."

"The method for selecting the Chief Executive shall be specified in the light of the actual situation in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and in accordance with the principle of gradual and orderly progress. 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."

On 29 December 2007, the NPCSC resolved the decision of the matter on universal suffrage in Hong Kong:

that the election of the fifth Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in the year 2017 may be implemented by the method of universal suffrage; that after the Chief Executive is selected by universal suffrage, the election of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region may be implemented by the method of electing all the members by universal suffrage...

The Asia Times remarked that both proposals for LegCo and for the Chief Executive "hedged in with so many ifs and buts that there is no guarantee of Hong Kong getting anything at all... "

On 16 January 2013, Benny Tai's article Hong Kong Economic Journal suggested that an act of civil disobedience take place in Central, the business and financial centre in Hong Kong if the universal suffrage proposal by the government is "fake" democracy.

Plan

Benny Tai stated that the principles of the movements would be deliberative democracy, self-sacrifice, and civil disobedience modeled after Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. The proposed four-step process is:

• July 2013 — Oath-taking days — solemn ceremonies for participants to declare their commitment to the plan.
• Early 2014 — A deliberation day — 10,000 participants divide into groups to discuss and vote on ideas for political reform.
• April/May 2014 — Citizens' authorisation — A citywide civil referendum, or a by-election triggered by the resignation of a lawmaker.
• July 2014 — Occupy Central — 10,000 participants block the roads in Central to pressure Beijing for democracy.

Timeline

• 16 January 2013 — Associate Professor of Law at the University of Hong Kong, Benny Tai Yiu-ting wrote an article 公民抗命的最大殺傷力武器 (Civil disobedience's mass destruction weapon) on Hong Kong Economic Journal suggesting an idea of civil obedience in occupying Central.
• 24 March 2013 — Qiao Xiaoyang, chairman of the Law Committee under the National People's Congress Standing Committee stated that chief executive candidates must be persons who love the country and love Hong Kong, and that as long as they insist on confronting the central government, they cannot become the chief executive.
• 27 March 2013 — Organisers of the "Occupy Central" movement, Benny Tai, Reverend Chu Yiu-ming and Chinese University's Sociology professor Chan Kin-man officially announced at a news conference that they will start promoting the protest in 2014 if the government's proposals for universal suffrage fall below international standards.

Reactions

SAR government

Commissioner of Police Andy Tsang Wai-hung said on the sidelines of a district council meeting that while freedom of assembly is always respected, participants of rallies like “Occupy Central” must also be aware of their liability and their impact on others, such as the emergency services.

Central government

Wang Guangya, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, said when asked if he believed the Occupy Central plan was beneficial to the city, "I think Hong Kong compatriots don't want to see Hong Kong being messed up. Hong Kong needs development."

Qiao Xiaoyang, chairman of the National People's Congress Law Committee, was quoted as accusing the "opposition camp" of "fuelling" the Occupy Central plan. Qiao said the plan was "partly truthful", "complex" and a "risk-everything" proposition.

Pro-democracy camp

Civic Party lawmaker Kwok Ka-ki said he saw the ideas as "the last resort" to pressure Beijing and the SAR administration to introduce universal suffrage. "If Beijing breaks its promise of universal suffrage," he added, "we will have no option but to launch such a civil disobedience movement."

Albert Ho Chun-yan of Democratic Party said he would resign from his legislator post to let Hong Kong people have an opportunity to decide in a de facto referendum, as the pan democrats launched the by-election in 2010 for universal suffrage in 2012, to pave way for the Occupy Central movement.

The pan-democrats' reactions were not uniformly supportive. Wong Yuk-man has expressed fears that the movement would deteriorate, while Wong Yeung-tat was strongly opposed to the movement. Some speculate that disagreements over the movement caused the shutdown of Stephen Shiu Yeuk-yuen's internet radio Hong Kong Reporter.

Pro-Beijing camp

Cheung Kwok-kwan, vice chairman of the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, saw "a radical move" in any thoughts of occupying Central. "Can Hong Kong afford the negative impact of people staging a rally to occupy and even paralyze Central for a universal suffrage model?" In fact, he said, it was "a mainstream idea" in the SAR not to resort to radical means to fight for democracy.

Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai, an National People's Congress Standing Committee member, warned that Hong Kong would have to pay a “high price” in the event of a stand-off in Central. “If you occupy Central, please think of the impact it would have on Hong Kong’s image. All our economic and financial activities would be affected. Don’t think only of yourself. Think of the whole city, which would suffer if you proceed with your action,” she said.

NPC Deputy and Executive Councilor Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fan said allowing a group of just 10,000 people to come up with a “consensus” over the reform package without the majority of Hong Kong people taking part is an improper consultation procedure. She urged the opposition camp to show respect for each other through a rational and pragmatic debate over the issue. “We don’t need to resort to any extreme action,” Law said, adding that it’s still not too late to begin consultations next year.

Others

Leo F. Goodstadt, who served as adviser to Chris Patten, the last British-appointed governor of Hong Kong before the handover, and chief adviser for the Central Policy Unit of the colonial government, said that it is normal for protesters to “paralyze Central” because “it is part of their right to protest” and Hong Kong residents already had the right to criticize the government through protests when the city was under British rule. As for worries that “Occupy Central” will hurt Hong Kong’s international financial center status, Goodstadt said there are frequent mass protests in New York and London, the two leading international financial centers, but have yet to affect the business environment there.

Cardinal Joseph Zen has stated that the movement has his conditional support and that he would not participate in the movement for an indefinite period. The incumbent bishop Cardinal John Tong Hon expressed that he did not encourage followers to join the movement, instead he thought both parties should seek universal suffrage through dialogue.

Evangelical Free Church of China's Reverend Ng Chung-man publicly denounced the occupy central plan in his church's newsletter, Ng wrote that while "some Christians are advocating...occupying Central to force the governments to give in to their demands...civil disobedience is acceptable biblically only...when people's rights to religion and to live are under threat". He stressed that believers ought to pray for those in authority, in "active subordination" to "relatively just governments".

See also

• Democratic development in Hong Kong

External links

• Occupy Central with Love and Peace