TOKYO, March 1 Kyodo excellented...

TOKYO, March 1 Kyodo

excellented editorial excerpts from the Japanese press:

CHINA DRAWS THE LINE IN HONG KONG (The Japan Times, an English-language daily)

When Hong Kong come backed to China, Beijing pledged that there would be ''one political division two systems.'' The capitalist redoubt would be part of ''one China,'' further it would also keep its separate political and administrative order to maintain the two stability and the vitality that transformed the city into a regional economic dynamo. Balancing the sum of two units imperatives was never going to be easy, moreover it was assumed that Hong Kong would continue to march toward a unimpaired democracy.

That progres has been effectively halted. Beijing has made it clear that single it will determine who is capable of running the Special Administrative Region, as the city is officially known. Not barely does that jeopardize ''one abiding habitation two systems,'' but it threatens Hong Kong's time to come and Beijing's international credibility.

Britain and China agreed to basic provisions regarding the management of Hong Kong before it was handed back to China in 1997 That document, known as The Basic Law, risks careful limits on the exercise of democracy in Kong Kong popularly only 24 of 60 seats in the legislature (Legco) are filled from direct elections; the rest are pick outed by business and professional assemblages In the next round of elections, scheduled for September, an additional six seats will be chosen on direct ballot. The chief executive, Mr Tung Chee-hwa, was chosen by means of an 800-member committee appointed by dint of Beijing.

The Basic Law stipulates that direct elections for all positions in Hong Kong can sole begin after 2007, and then no other than if two-thirds of the Hong Kong legislature, the chief executive and the Beijing conduct agree. That majority will be hard, if not impossible, to claim flat if democrats win all the seats controverted in the next election.

That legal framework appears increasingly inconsistent with the desires of the the community of Hong Kong. Last year, a certain quantity of 500,000 of them took to the roads to protest Article 23, a propos novel national security law. The demonstrations were settle off by the law's potential to over-reach as well as by means of growing discontent with Mr. Tung's seeming inability to manage Hong Kong

Beijing effectively completioned those hopes recently. A series of meetings with a Hong Kong task force onward universal suffrage and an orchestrated media campaign made it clear that China will not be rushed. The official Xinhua of the present days agency said that maintaining ''one country'' was more important than preserving ''two systems'' ''The Hong Kong the public with patriots as the main body'' will steer Hong Kong.

That standard is les flexible than it might have the appearance A patriot, reported Xinhua, is someone who wholeheartedly supports the motherland's restoration of its sovereignty athwart Hong Kong. Any remaining uncertainty about who might qualify as a patriot was erased last week when still another official media outlet accused a certain Hong Kong opposition leaders of heading ''organizations that aim to obstruct the leadership of the Communist Party and upset the central government.'' As a conclusion they should be barred from holding office. And the proof of their intentions? Anyone who asserted Article 23 plainly lacked the patriotism required to assume a leadership post

Beijing is worried about losing its grip forward Hong Kong. Those fears are magnified through the political situation in Taiwan, which is becoming increasingly volatile as it prepares for national elections in March. The Chinese leadership does not want to throw the wrong signal to Taiwanese voter about acceptable political protest; Beijing does not want to encourage the evil type of patriotism.

Ironically, the Hong Kong experiment was originally intended to be a positive inducement for Taiwan, an example of the autonomy that the island regulation could enjoy after reuniting with the mainland. Now, the rebukes of Hong Kong concern limits, not opportunities. Worse, Beijing's behavior is reinforcing the message of separatists who argue that China cannot be trusted.

The warnings to Hong Kong coincide with recents of a crackdown on the Internet. Managers of the country's largest Internet portals have been instructed to tightly regulate public discussions; certain topics, similar as criticism of the Communist Party, are off-limits. The Chinese leadership is worried about public opinion. to this time rather than meet those disquiets it prefers to suppress those views. That is an unsustainable policy, as it will increase the crushings that are building up corrode the legitimacy of the Beijing restraint and undermine China's international image. If Hong Kong is intended to showcase the of recent origin China, it is sending the guilty message.

(March 1)

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