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P 161037Z MAY 07
FM AMCONSUL HONG KONG
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1637
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HONG KONG 001323 
 
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DEPT FOR EAP AND EAP/CM 
NSC FOR DENNIS WILDER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/16/2032 
TAGS:            
SUBJECT: NO "MASSACRE" AT TIANANMEN -- BEIJING LOYALIST'S 
COMMENTS STIR SHARP DEBATE 
 
Classified By: E/P Chief Laurent Charbonnet. Reasons: 1.4(b,d). 
 
 1. (C) Summary: Hong Kong will not be ready for universal 
suffrage until "around 2022" -- or 25 years after the 
handover -- because many Hong Kongers lacked "national 
awareness," said Ma Lik, chairman of Hong Kong's largest 
pro-Beijing political party.  Ma referred to the local 
characterization of the Tiananmen Square incident as a 
"massacre" as an example of how Hong Kong was not yet ready 
for universal suffrage.  Ma's remarks drew condemnation from 
a broad spectrum of Hong Kong society; his own party is 
seeking to clarify his statements.  His comments are the 
latest in a series of attempts by Beijing loyalists to dampen 
expectations for an early introduction of universal suffrage. 
 End Summary. 
 
 2. (C) Comment:  Ma Lik's ill-conceived statements have 
caused a maelstrom of debate in Hong Kong only two weeks 
before the 18th commemoration of Tiananmen.  The Tiananmen 
massacre had a searing effect on the Hong Kong psyche, coming 
as it did only a few years before the return of Hong Kong to 
the mainland.  Even "patriotic" Hong Kongers, to this day, 
treat those memories with caution and respect.  Ma is not 
known for being a hard-core leftist, but we have been 
unimpressed with his political sophistication and 
communication skills.  Others in the DAB leadership are more 
savvy about interpreting Beijing's expectations into forms 
palatable to the Hong Kong audience.  In the near term, the 
DAB will be forced to backpedal and clarify their chairman's 
statements; he may very well have boosted the turnout for 
this year's Tiananmen candlelight vigil.  Over the long term, 
Ma has provided more ammunition for pro-democracy politicians 
to question the willingness of pro-Beijingers to protect Hong 
Kong's freedoms.  End Comment. 
 
No "Massacre" 
------------- 
 
 3. (SBU) Hong Kong will not be ready for universal suffrage 
until "around 2022" -- or 25 years after the handover -- 
because many Hong Kongers lacked "national awareness," said 
Ma Lik, chairman of Hong Kong's largest pro-Beijing political 
party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and 
Progress of Hong Kong (DAB).  Ma referred to characterization 
of the Tiananmen Square incident as a "massacre" as an 
example of how the local population had not received a proper 
"national education" and was not yet ready for universal 
suffrage, during a routine press conference on May 15.  "We 
should not say the Communist Party massacred people on June 
 4.  I never said that nobody was killed, but it was not a 
massacre...A massacre would mean the Communist Party 
intentionally killed people with machine guns 
indiscriminately."  He added, "'Gweilos' (slang for 
foreigners) shouldn't be allowed to decide what really 
happened at Tiananmen on June 4, 1989." 
 
 4. (SBU) Ma's remarks drew immediate criticism from 
pan-democrats.  Cheung Man-kwong, a Democratic Party 
legislator, told the "South China Morning Post" that he was 
"shocked and sad to hear Ma Lik, who I thought was an 
intellectual, try to whitewash history."  Ma's ill-timed 
remarks, said Cheung, would boost the number of participants 
in Hong Kong's annual June 4 demonstration.  Szeto Wah, 
chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic 
Democratic Movement in China, a group deemed "subversive" by 
Beijing, said that Ma had brought shame onto himself.  "Facts 
written in blood cannot be twisted by lies."  Besides the 
expected excoriation by pro-democracy activists, Ma's remarks 
also sparked angry public comments to morning call-in shows. 
 
Damage Control 
-------------- 
 
 5. (SBU) In response to the public outcry, Ma tried to 
explain his remarks today. "What I meant is to look at the 
incident rationally.  It happened a long time ago.  I was not 
insulting those who lost their lives in Tiananmen Square to 
fight for democracy."  But, he added, "The description of the 
June 4 incident as a massacre and a river of blood, I think 
all these are not complete and correct views." 
 
 6. (C) The DAB leadership is trying to put some distance 
between the party and Ma's controversial comments.  Lau 
Kong-wah, DAB vice chair, told the media, "Our Chairman has 
stirred up an argument...If this caused some unnecessary 
damage and debate, the DAB is willing to apologize."  Greg 
 
HONG KONG 00001323  002 OF 002 
 
 
So, DAB vice chair, told us privately May 16 that Ma's 
comments on universal suffrage and Tiananmen were his own 
personal views and did not necessarily represent the party's 
views.  (The party has not yet publicly stated this, 
however.) 
 
One by One, Leftists Rule Out Universal Suffrage by 2012 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
 7. (SBU) Separately, Ma Lik's comments about postponing the 
implementation of universal suffrage until 2022 are only the 
latest in a steady stream of recent public comments by 
pro-Beijing loyalists to lower public expectations for the 
introduction of universal suffrage by 2012.  The Government 
is expected to release a green paper in mid-July, which will 
put forward three options for constitutional development. 
Preparatory to this, politicians in Hong Kong have been 
releasing their individual plans to attain universal 
suffrage.  Executive Council (Exco) member and former DAB 
chairman Jasper Tsang told the media that he expected the 
central government would support full democracy for the Chief 
Executive (CE) election no sooner than 2017 and a fully 
elected Legislative Council (Legco) in 2020.  Tsang added 
that Beijing would not accept any proposal on the CE election 
that did not include proper and sufficient safeguards to 
ensure that all CE candidates were acceptable to Beijing.  On 
May 13, Cheng Yiu-tong, also an Exco member and the President 
of the (pro-Beijing) Federation of Trade Unions (FTU), stated 
that he believed the earliest date for implementing universal 
suffrage would be 2017.  Cheng placed the blame for the delay 
squarely on the pan-democrats' failure to pass the 
Government's constitutional reform proposals in December 
 2005.  Ma's comments were the first public statements 
indicating that Hong Kong's lack of right-think was a 
fundamental impediment to democracy. 
Cunningham