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China plans to take HK's political pulse this month

HONG KONG: China plans to take Hong Kong's political pulse this month, its latest move in preparations to take control of the British colony next year, a Beijing-controlled newspaper said on Friday.

The step comes after a surge of anti-Beijing feeling in Hong Kong because of China's recent moves to derail democracy in Hong Kong and Taiwan - territories which Beijing hopes to reunify with the Communist-ruled mainland by the year 2000.

There were stampedes to apply for passports, protest marches and angry quarrels between Hong Kong politicians and Beijing mandarins over the past month as China stepped up its hardline rhetoric and unveiled anti-democracy measures for the territory.

Ta Kung Pao, a pro-China Hong Kong newspaper, said a sub-group of China's Preparatory Committee (PC) dealing with Hong Kong would consult residents on April 13-14 for their views on the transfer of sovereignty.

The "large-scale consultation inquiry" would be immediately followed up by a conference of the sub-group, who are working to set up a 400-strong Selection Committee that will, later this year, pick Hong Kong's post-1997 leader and government.

The committee has invited more than 100 people from Hong Kong's 6.3 million population - some individuals, others representing organisations - to present their views, Ta Kung Pao said.

It did not name the groups or individuals. China has emphatically ruled out on many occasions that it would accept members of the main democracy movement, including elected lawmakers, in Hong Kong's future institutions.

China has also said it will appoint a new loyal legislature and scrap Hong Kong's elected Legislative Council (Legco).

The consultation move seems designed to counter accusations by Hong Kong's colonial Governor Chris Patten and pro-democracy politicians that China is deciding the colony's fate in total disregard of local sentiment on democracy and human rights.

China also this week handed Britain a set of proposals - some analysts called them demands - outlining areas where it sought the colonial administration's cooperation before Britain's Union Jack is lowered for the last time. The content of the list remains secret.

Citing anxiety about these developments, tens of thousands of Hong Kong people staged a last-minute dash to beat a March 31 deadline to apply for British travel documents as a hedge against trouble when China resumes sovereignty.

British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind called China's plan to scrap Legco "reprehensible and unjustifiable".-Reuter