HK chief vows to heed dissent

It has Hong Kong's biggest protest since its return to China

Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa has vowed to listen to more carefully to the territory's citizens, after half a million people took to the streets on Tuesday.

It was the biggest rally in Hong Kong since protests against Beijing's Tiananmen Square killings in 1989.

Many demonstrators were angry at new national security legislation, due to be introduced next week, which they say is a threat to political, religious and media freedoms.

But protesters were demonstrating about a whole range of issues, from the dire state of the territory's economy, to the government's handling of the deadly Sars virus.

ARTICLE 23

Outlaws: Reporting state "secrets"

Criticism of Beijing authority

Access to "subversive" material

Threatens: Currently legal groups, such as Falun Gong

Q and A: HK's anti-subversion law

"The government will listen more extensively and strive to strengthen communication with the public," Mr Tung said in a statement released late on Tuesday after the rally.

Hong Kong's government-funded radio station, RTHK, said the chief executive held an emergency cabinet meeting on Wednesday to discuss the situation.

Organisers of Tuesday's rally are reportedly planning another for 9 July, when the controversial Article 23 will be presented to Hong Kong's Legislative Council for its final reading.

The bill is expected to be passed.

Article 23 is part of Hong Kong's mini-constitution - the Basic Law - which was negotiated on its handover from Britain to China.

The article said Hong Kong would introduce legislation against treason, sedition and the theft of state secrets, and certain political groups.

Religious groups, human rights organisations and journalists all fear that it gives the government power to suppress their activities.

Hong Kong officials insist that Hong Kong's freedom will not be compromised, and that Article 23 is in line with other countries' national security laws.

But Britain and the European Union have also criticised the bill, saying it could compromise the territory's autonomy from mainland China.

The people of Hong Kong have spoken

The Standard

Hong Kong papers welcome protest

Critics of the bill also argue that Hong Kong's citizens have not been given enough opportunity to examine it for themselves.

The United States said on Tuesday that the rally underscored people's concerns that they were being emasculated.

"A large turnout underscores how important it is for the Hong Kong Government not to rush (the) legislation to enactment before the Legislative Council can discuss concerns raised by Hong Kong citizenry through the most transparent means possible," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

Hong Kong's The Standard newspaper said the protest was a "vote of no confidence in Tung and his administration".

"The people of Hong Kong have spoken," the newspaper said. "The question now is whether the chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, and his administration will listen."