The government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
(HKSAR) unveiled Wednesday the Green Paper on Constitutional
Development.
The move is aimed at consulting the public on the models,
roadmap, and timetable for electing the Chief Executive and for
forming the Legislative Council (Legco) of HKSAR by universal
suffrage.
The Green Paper on Constitutional Development represents a
significant milestone for Hong Kong, said Donald Tsang, chief
executive of HKSAR.
"As I had undertaken during my election campaign, we will launch
a public consultation exercise on the implementation of universal
suffrage after the inauguration of the Third Term HKSAR
Government," he said.
"It is now time to identify for Hong Kong a set of solutions to
allow constitutional development to progress in a clear direction
towards further political maturity in a steady manner," he
said.
In the past 20 months, the Commission on Strategic Development
of HKSAR had examined the issue of constitutional development in
depth, laying a solid foundation for the publication of the Green
Paper, he said.
Tsang said that he hoped that after discussion within the
community, a mainstream feasible option would emerge that is in
line with the Basic Law and the expectations of the public.
"Hong Kong is a place of constant progress. In regards to our
electoral system, Hong Kong also needs to strive for creativity,
advancement and competitiveness. Our common goal is that, when
universal suffrage is attained, aspirants, who are committed to
serving the community and are capable of enhancing good governance
in Hong Kong, will be elected as the CE and Legco Members," he
said.
Unveiling the document at the Legco meeting Wednesday afternoon,
Chief Secretary for Administration of the HKSAR government Henry
Tang said that since 2004, the people of Hong Kong and the
community had been discussing widely and expressing views on the
issue of constitutional development.
"All proposals received are covered by the Green Paper. At this
stage, the HKSAR Government has not formed any specific views on
the way forward or ruled out any options," he said, but he noted
that any feasible option should be in accordance with the Basic
Law.
"We hope that the issue of universal suffrage can be resolved in
a satisfactory manner, which would be conducive to the progressive
development of Hong Kong's political environment. We cannot afford
to allow the issue of universal suffrage to polarize the community
any longer," he said.
He said that the public consultation will run until Oct. 10, and
after consultation, the HKSAR government will summarize the views
received from the community and assess whether a mainstream view
could be formed as the basis for taking forward the work to the
next phase.
"The CE will submit a report to the Central Government to
reflect faithfully any mainstream views formed during the public
consultation and other views expressed," he said.
The Green Paper consists of six chapters, including background,
constitutional basis of constitutional development and principles
of design of the political structure, models for electing the CE by
universal suffrage, and models for forming the Legco by universal
suffrage.
The paper has also two annexes, namely, composition of the
election committee and functional constituencies of the Legco.
(Xinhua News Agency July 12, 2007)