Hong Kong leader called on to resign

HONG KONG — Hong Kong democracy advocates, savoring their first significant victory under Chinese rule, called on Tung Chee-hwa, the territory’s chief executive, to resign yesterday.

They issued the call one day after he backed down on a hugely unpopular antisubversion bill.

Analysts said Mr. Tung’s future rests in Beijing’s hands. Although the central government has always supported Mr. Tung, it may have been embarrassed, even alarmed, to see him lose the showdown about the security measure, experts said.

Some Tung critics worried about what Beijing’s reaction would be.

“It may well lead to some backlash,” said Law Yuk-kai, director of the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, a nongovernmental organization.

“Unlike what Beijing has expected in the past, Hong Kong is not totally under their control,” Mr. Law said. “It’s in their pocket, but it’s still alive and kicking in a way that makes them uncomfortable.”

In a stunning reversal, Mr. Tung said the bill outlawing subversion, sedition, treason and other crimes against the state would not be submitted for a vote tomorrow as he had planned. He had to put the bill on hold after a key legislative ally, James Tien of the pro-business Liberal Party, refused to go along.

Critics say the bill, carrying life prison sentences for some offenses, poses the biggest threat to Hong Kong’s civil liberties since Britain gave this former colony back to China on July 1, 1997. Half a million people marched to protest the bill last Tuesday, the sixth anniversary of the hand over.

The United States, the European Union, Britain, Australia and New Zealand raised questions about the bill. China accused them of improperly meddling.

“Tung should take the blame and resign,” said pro-democracy lawmaker Leung Yiu-chung. “This is an unprecedented political calamity that has wiped out the power and reputation of his administration.”

Some pro-Beijing politicians appeared to distance themselves from Mr. Tung yesterday. When asked whether Mr. Tung should resign, the chairman of the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong said that was a matter only Mr. Tung could consider.

An antisubversion bill is required under Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, but critics say the government tried to go too far with its proposal. Mr. Tung, who repeatedly denied that Hong Kong’s freedoms were in jeopardy, watered down the bill Saturday in an effort to end the crisis.

He scrapped a provision that allows some groups to be banned, added protections for journalists who publish classified information and deleted a provision that would let police conduct searches without warrants.

Opponents said the changes were inadequate and stepped up their pressure.

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