Hong Kong Marks a Decade Since Handover

By KEITH BRADSHER

HONG KONG, July 1 — With helicopters pumping out streams of red smoke and boats carrying giant red Chinese characters — and with demonstrators calling once again for the elusive goal of full democracy — Hong Kong marked on Sunday the 10th anniversary of its return by Britain to Chinese rule.

Many of the events underlined how Hong Kong has become a far more Chinese city over the past decade, even though individual liberties have been preserved.

President Hu Jintao of China personally swore in Donald Tsang, the chief executive, and his ministers Sunday morning, a reminder to residents that Beijing reserves the final power to appoint the leaders of Hong Kong.

Mr. Hu also opened a new bridge Sunday to neighboring Shenzhen, in mainland China, another sign of how the economy, culture and people of Hong Kong are becoming ever more closely connected to the mainland. On Saturday, Mr. Hu reviewed nearly 2,000 soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army at a military base in Hong Kong where the Chinese flag was flying but the Hong Kong flag was conspicuously absent.

Carrying small flags that bore the slogan “One Person, One Vote,” protesters marched through the heart of the city Sunday afternoon in sweltering heat to demand greater democracy. The police put the crowd at 20,000, but organizers said that 68,000 people had marched.

By comparison, a half million people marched the same route on July 1, 2003, when Mr. Tsang’s predecessor as chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, was trying to impose stringent internal security legislation. Mr. Tung backed down and Beijing replaced him in March 2005 with Mr. Tsang, who has paid more attention to public opinion on day-to-day issues.

Mr. Tsang, selected in March by the 795 members of a mostly pro-Beijing committee, repeated his recent promises Sunday to propose later this year several possible routes to greater democracy.

“We will develop a system that is more democratic,” he said, adding that, “we can all work together to identify the most acceptable mode of universal suffrage to best serve the interests of Hong Kong.”

Democracy advocates are wary. They defeated Mr. Tsang’s last initiative in this regard, a proposal in late 2005 to broaden the legislature, after concluding that the complex plan involved gerrymandering which would have increased the influence of pro-Beijing political parties.

But Martin Lee, the founding chairman of the Democratic Party, said that it was easier several years ago to draw big crowds for democracy protests.

“Donald Tsang is not Tung Chee-hwa — Tung Chee-hwa says the wrong things, does the wrong things," Mr. Lee said. “Donald Tsang is very PR-conscious and defuses problems, and the economy is good.”

One of the marchers, Fu Chun-lan, a 62-year-old retired art teacher, said that she had seldom attended previous marches but came this year because it was the 10th anniversary of the return to Chinese control. " “I expected there'd be more democracy after 10 years,” she said.

The protest took place without interference from the police, however: the latest sign that the Hong Kong government continues to protect many individual liberties. While relations between Taiwan and mainland China remain tense, for example, at least four Taiwanese flags were prominently waved near the front of the protest Sunday, with no sign of interference by anyone.

Media freedom has been a persistent issue here, with many media outlets owned by pro-Beijing proprietors. RTHK, a government department operating radio and television channels in competition with the private sector, was under tight British control in its early days but has evolved into a sophisticated news-gathering operation that frequently irritates pro-Beijing groups and the government with its aggressive reporting.

A recent government commission suggested that a reorganization of RTHK include dispersing the staff to other government agencies and hiring a new, presumably more pliant, staff. Many of the demonstrators Sunday were carrying pennants from a group called SaveRTHK.org that read, “One Person, One Vote.”

The biggest surprise Sunday came when Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, the Roman Catholic bishop of Hong Kong, chose for the first time to participate in such a march, and even helped carry a large protest flag in the front row of marchers. Mr. Zen participated in prayer meetings before each of the four previous democracy marches on July 1, and did so again on Sunday, but always refused to march before, saying that this would be disruptive.

Pope Benedict XVI issued a letter to the Chinese people Saturday that mentioned the suffering that many believers have endured, but also took a somewhat conciliatory tone toward the Chinese government, with which the Vatican does not have diplomatic relations. The papal letter mentioned Saturday that, “the Catholic Church which is in China does not have a mission to change the structure or administration of the State.”

Cardinal Zen declined to take questions about why he joined the march Sunday, or whether he planned to remain bishop of Hong Kong. He has consistently favored a tough stance toward the Beijing government on religious freedom. During an interview in May, he also expressed worries that the papal letter would be too conciliatory.

Cardinal Zen may have little to lose by becoming more visible about democracy issues in Hong Kong. He turned 75 in January and has repeatedly sought permission to retire from his post as bishop of Hong Kong, so as to have more time to use his position as a cardinal to address religious issues in mainland China.

In the same interview, Mr. Zen said that his critics within the Church might want to keep him busy with administrative tasks as the bishop of Hong Kong to prevent him from spending more time in Rome arguing the case for a tough line toward China.

“I suspect the big bosses don't want me there, they want to keep me in Hong Kong — I am a troublemaker,” he said.

Reached on his cellphone, Liu Bainian, the vice president of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association in Beijing, which oversees the government-sanctioned church on the mainland, strongly criticized Mr. Zen’s decision to march.

“Right in the midst of all the citizens of China — including the Hong Kong people — celebrating the 10th year anniversary of the handover, he is doing something totally opposite to the celebrations, something that is counterproductive to the Catholic Church’s preachings,” Mr. Liu said. “His actions will be rejected by Catholics and non-Catholics alike. His actions will hurt the current efforts to improve relations between China and the Vatican.”