China's foreign ministry Thursday voiced opposition against any interference from external forces in Hong Kong affairs, ahead of an unofficial "referendum" on the territory's electoral reform, which may push street politics to a new height in the region.
The referendum, organized by the Occupy Central movement, starts Friday. The voting period is to be extended from three to 10 days until June 29 in hopes of attracting more ballots.
The organizers plan to get around 200,000 votes, which is expected to add weight to their talks with the central government over ways of electing the city's chief executive.
If the central government does not respond to the vote, the Occupy movement may begin shutting down the city's financial district on July 1, warned Chow Wing-hong, one of the organizers and General Secretary of the Hong Kong Federation of Students.
The current election methods have encountered opposition among some Hong Kong residents, who said they want a public nomination for the top post in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR).
The voting results, regardless of the turnout, will have no legal basis, Tian Feilong, a legal expert at Beihang University in Beijing and visiting scholar at the University of Hong Kong, told the Global Times.
It is because the idea of public nomination promoted by Occupy Central is not enshrined in the SAR's Basic Law, and only a nominating committee can pick candidates, he said.
In March, the highest authority on Hong Kong affairs, Zhang Dejiang, head of the central authority's leading group on Hong Kong and Macao Affairs, noted in an indirect address that public nominations for the 2017 chief executive election would be ruled out, saying the reform must be done in accordance with the Constitution and Basic Law, the South China Morning Post reported.
The State Council Information Office published a white paper earlier in June, reasserting its "overall jurisdiction" over the SAR, and stated the chief executive will be selected by universal suffrage after candidates have been chosen by the nomination committee.
But Tian suggested that both the SAR and central government should take the poll results into consideration when considering political reform.
"The majority of the Hong Kong public support the [central] government's proposal about electing the city's chief through a nomination committee, as achieving universal suffrage is their common goal," Michael Tien Puk-sun, the city's legislator and deputy chairman of New People's Party, told the Global Times.
Priscilla Lau Pui-king, a Hong Kong deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC), said resistance only comes from a minority incited by irrational teenagers. Most Hong Kongers are against the Occupy Central movement, she told the Global Times.
A representative of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong declared Thursday it strongly opposes intervention over Hong Kong matters by foreign forces, as well as collusion with external powers.
The statement was made following a secret meeting between Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai Chi-ying and Paul Wolfowitz, former US deputy secretary of defense, in late May. Lai is famously known for his outspoken opposition against the government.
In an interview with Reuters, Rita Fan, a senior Hong Kong delegate to the NPC, said the Occupy protests will damage the Hong Kong economy and further stoke Beijing's mistrust of the city.
"It only hurts Hong Kong ... If the Hong Kong police force is unable to contain the situation then the international credit rating agencies may consider that Hong Kong is politically not stable and that may downgrade our rating," she said.
Chen Zuo'er, former deputy director of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, Wednesday told the Hong Kong-based Ta Kung Pao newspaper that if the Occupy movement tries to shut down the financial district, the central government will intervene.
"Hong Kong is part of China. If there are riots in any part of the country, how can the central government sit by and do nothing?" he said.
While protest movements in Hong Kong have tended to be peaceful, recently there have been signs of more violent actions. On June 13, some 50 radical protestors, including activists and residents who were against a development plan for the northeastern New Territories, stormed their way into Hong Kong's legislative building, smashing windows and ramming doors. Police arrested 21 demonstrators.