HONG KONG's future political leader yesterday unveiled plans to curb demonstrations, restrict political contacts with foreigners and ban political parties, after the territory comes under Chinese rule on July 1st.
The plan, announced by the incoming chief executive, Mr Tung Chee hwa, will remove at a stroke the democratic reforms brought in by Britain's 28th and last Governor of Hong Kong, Mr Chris Patten.
The roll back of civil liberties had been expected, having been approved by a Beijing appointed committee of Hong Kong people at the start of the year and by a committee of the National People's Congress in Beijing in February.
Under the proposals, people who want to hold a street protest after July 1st must seek police permission seven days in advance, or 48 hours in special circumstances, and can only proceed if the police issue a "no objection" notice. Under current law, demonstrators must notify the police but do not require permission.
A major test of the proposed new legislation will come when Hong Kong democrats attempt to stage their annual June 4th commemoration of the crushing of the pro democracy movement in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Such demonstrations are banned in mainland China.
The proposals would require political parties and societies to be registered, and they could be banned if considered necessary in the interests of national security or public safety, public order or the protection of public morals." They will not be allowed to form links with foreign political organisations or solicit overseas donations.
Hong Kong will retain its own policy for under China's "one country two systems" plan which allows Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy for 50 years, but the security of the territory will be the responsibility of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. The Chinese government has said that the PLA troops will not be equipped with tanks.
Mr Tung said the changes, which he outlined in a discussion paper, were necessary to prevent Hong Kong from becoming a base to destabilise China. They were designed to "strike a balance between civil liberties and social stability."
Mr Patten said they would "undoubtedly tighten the screw on Hong Kong's civil liberties." He told reporters that the case for changing the laws "has not been demonstrated and cannot be demonstrated".
The Democratic Party, the biggest in Hong Kong's outgoing Legislative Council, called the proposals flagrant violations of basic human rights.
Its vice chairman, Mr Yeung Sum, said that the definition of political organisations and political links was so wide "it will simply catch a lot of people in its net".
But the Secretary for Policy Coordination, Mr Michael Suen Ming yeung, said the proposals complied with the Basic Law - the Chinese drafted constitution for Hong Kong when it becomes a special administrative region of China and were "above world standards".
"We must strike a balance between civil liberties and social stability, personal rights and social obligations, individual interests and the common good," Mr Suen said.
He added that the changes were necessary because China's parliament decided in February that, parts of the present societies and public order ordinances, amended to bring them into line with Hong Kong's 1991 Bill of Rights, were in conflict with the Basic Law.
The public will be invited to comment on the proposals during the next three weeks. Significant amendments are not expected, though according to a poll conducted two months ago a majority of Hong Kong people oppose the mainland's initiative in curbing civil liberties by repealing sections, of the Public Order (Amendment) Ordinance and Societies (Amendment) Ordinance.
Almost 55 per cent of respondents to the Hong Kong Policy Viewers poll objected to the move and 17.8 per cent supported it. More than 58 per cent said their confidence in post handover civil liberties had been undermined.
The poll result supported the argument that despite Chinese criticism of Mr Patten's motives and Beijing's charges of a breach of the 1984 SinoBritish Joint Declaration restoring Chinese sovereignty, his eleventh hour changes do have substantial support among Hong Kong's six million population.
Up to the beginning of the 1990s, the British governor had sweeping powers to silence critics in Hong Kong. The Communist Party was banned and activists imprisoned for membership. Beijing maintains that the Joint Declaration committed Britain to hand over the colony with its laws basically unaltered. Legislation drafted on the basis of the proposals will be enacted by the Provisional Legislature, which will take over from the Legislative Council on July 1st. The changes were first proposed in January the 150 member China appointed Preparatory Committee charged with overseeing Hong Kong's transition to mainland rule.