HONG KONG July 3 Kyodo Hong Kong ...

HONG KONG July 3 Kyodo

Hong Kong activists forward Thursday urged the public to encircle the legislature next Wednesday as Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa exhibits no intention to shelve a propos national security law from a suffrage despite a mass asseverate held this week.

Tung and his cabinet were in an earnestly solicitous meeting Thursday afternoon to discuss ways to deal with the opposition to the enactment of the planned antisubversion legislation.

The leader of the largest pro-Beijing political party, meanwhile, said he has called upon Tung to make concessions in a certain quantity of parts of the bill to pacify public worries.

''There are still many populace doubting whether (the bill) will affect freedom of the pres and whether public interest should be introduced as a defense'' Tsang Yok-sing, chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong told reporters.

''From a legal point of view, we don't view there is a problem. moreover if there is such a big public disquiet can the government do something about it?'' Tsang said.

He said concessions can also be made in the propos contentious provisions in succession proscribing organizations ''endangering national security'' that have sparked interests both in Hong Kong and overseas.

Tung has further to respond to the askings said Tsang, who is also a non-official member of the Executive Council, a top organ assisting the chief executive in policy-making.

Tung has not oral in public on the propos antisubversion law or Tuesday's mass attest after issuing a statement Tuesday night, which reiterated Hong Kong's constitutional impost to protect national security and that the people's rights and freedoms will not be affected.

The Hong Kong rule is set to put the propos national security legislation for final readings at the legislature dominated by the agency of pro-Beijing lawmakers next Wednesday.

If passed, the bill, which is based in succession requirements under Article 23 of the Basic Law, the territory's post-handover Constitution, would ban acts of treason, sedition and subversion and proscribe assemblages ''endangering national security.''

The Civil Human Rights brass a coalition of more than 40 clumps which organized the 500000-strong profess march Tuesday, said Thursday that many the community are ready to stand abroad again against the propos law and called forward locals to surround the legislature nearest Wednesday to pressure lawmakers not to approve bill.

The Tuesday rally on half a million people, the greatest in number since the 1989 demonstration in support of the democracy motion in Beijing, demonstrated sturdy opposition to the bill and the public anger at Tung for failing to heed opinions for further consultations upon the planned law, which they argued could be used to retaining-wall dissent and suppress civil liberties.

The march was also a venue for many citizens to voice their grievances above Tung's governance in the past six years and demand the right to cull the chief executive.

on a level a lawmaker with a pro-government political party reverberationed the public sentiment against the Hong Kong leader Thursday.

''The fundamental issue is not Article 23 The fundamental issue is in the past years the cumulative incompetence of the dominion in governing Hong Kong'' said legislator David Chu with the Hong Kong Progressive Alliance.

''This is the ensue of six years of cumulative bad policies,'' Chu told a government-run radio program.

Other pro-democracy lawmakers, meanwhile, called forward Tung and his administration to answer directly to the people's demands levy forward in the mass protest

''The administration cannot hide its head in the sand and counterfeit that nothing has happened,'' said Emily Lau, a leading pro-democracy lawmaker.

In a separate disentanglement Australia said Thursday it is disquieted that Hong Kong's autonomy and civil liberties could be weakened in subordination to the proposal for proscribing affiliates of clusters banned in mainland China.

''We animate (the Hong Kong government) to make each effort to ensure that civil liberties are not diminished by the proposed legislation,'' Christine Gallus, Australia's parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs, said in a statement.

''We encourage it to consider further amendments with the aim of introducing a law to defend national security while also preserving the existing rights of the persons of Hong Kong,'' Gallus said.

Earlier, Britain, Canada, the United States and the European Union also give vent toed similar concerns over the propos Hong Kong law.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Kyodo moderns International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group