Source: China Real Time, WSJ (6/26/15)
Leaked Chats on Vote Strategy Leave Hong Kong Lawmakers Reeling
By Isabella Steger
Jasper Tsang, president of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, listens to Chief Executive Leung Chun-Ying’s annual policy address in January. Reuters
Beijing is striving to present a united front with its supporters in Hong Kong’s legislature, even as the pro-establishment camp is rocked by a series of leaked online conversations related to last week’s failed vote on a 2017 election overhaul.
On Thursday, Hong Kong’s Oriental Daily newspaper published a series of conversations among a group of pro-Beijing lawmakers on the popular mobile messaging service Whatsapp, showing the internal debate before the vote took place and the politicians’ reactions afterwards.
An image of the Oriental Daily’s report on the leaked chats on Thursday.
Pro-Beijing lawmakers last week attempted to stage a walkout of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council to delay a vote on the election plan. Yet the tactic backfired: The vote was not postponed, and the package – which had been expected to narrowly fall short of passage – met a resounding defeat. In the wake of the vote, pro-Beijing lawmakers such as Regina Ip, a former security secretary, and Jeffrey Lam, who initiated the walkout,delivered emotional public apologies over the blunder.
The election plan, which for the first time would grant the public the right to vote for the city’s top leader, is opposed by pro-democracy lawmakers because it only allows pre-screened candidates to run. While pro-Beijing lawmakers hold a majority in Hong Kong’s legislature, the pro-democracy camp’s opposition to the measure denied it the two-thirds majority required for passage.
According to the leaked conversations published by the Oriental Daily, participants in the online chat included Jasper Tsang, a veteran pro-Beijing politician who is also the president of the legislature. The conversation shows Mr. Tsang was involved in the discussion last Thursday morning to orchestrate the timing of the vote. That compromised Mr. Tsang’s obligation to remain neutral as president of the Legislative Council, opposition lawmakers said, with some demanding that he step down.
Text from the leaked chats published by the Oriental Daily. Isabella Steger/The Wall Street Journal
“Everyone who could be a potential defector in the opposition has already spoken, it doesn’t look like there will be a change to the final result,” Mr. Tsang wrote in the chat, according to the leaked transcripts. He was referring to those in the pro-democracy camp who some speculated could change their mind and vote in favor of the package at the last minute.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Mr. Tsang acknowledged taking part in the strategy discussions with other pro-Beijing lawmakers on Whatsapp but maintained that his actions were not in violation of the legislature’s code of conduct.
“I did not do anything that was unfair to pro-democracy lawmakers,” Mr. Tsang said. He apologized to pro-Beijing lawmakers for having “added to their troubles” by taking part in the chat group.
On Thursday night, Chinese authorities sought to move past the stumble by inviting pro-Beijing legislators to attend a meeting hosted by Zhang Xiaoming, director of the central government’s liaison office in Hong Kong. The office is Beijing’s main conduit for communication with the city.
Photos released by the liaison office on Thursday showed the lawmakers seated at round tables as they listened to Mr. Zhang. In his speech, a copy of which was posted on the liaison office website, Mr. Zhang described what happened during the vote as an “accident” and said that Beijing stands firm on its blueprint for universal suffrage in Hong Kong in 2017.
As speculation mounts over who was behind the leaks, some in the pro-Beijing camp are trying to restore order to the group. Felix Chung, a member of the Liberal Party, said in comments to reporters Friday morning that pro-establishment lawmakers have come to a “consensus” to put the incident behind them.
“We don’t think there is much use in having a witch hunt,” Mr. Chung said.
–Isabella Steger. Follow her on Twitter @stegersaurus.