HONG KONG: Thousands have signed an online petition denouncing reported comments by an HSBC Holdings board member in which she likened Hong Kong protesters’ demands for democracy to the emancipation of slaves.
Laura Cha, who is also a member of Hong Kong’s policy-making Executive Council, chairwoman of the city’s Financial Services Development Council and a member of China’s parliament, was quoted as making the comments at an event in Paris.
“American slaves were liberated in 1861 but did not get voting rights until 107 years later. So why can’t Hong Kong wait for a while?” the Standard newspaper on Thursday quoted Cha as saying, referring to demands for free elections in the former British colony.
Cha said democracy could not be reached in just one step and warned that investors’ confidence in Hong Kong was at a critical point, the newspaper added.
Cha, who is also a member of HSBC’s Conduct and Values Committee, said in a statement that she meant every country’s path to democracy was evolved in its own historical context. She added she did not mean any disrespect and was sorry her comments had caused concern.
HSBC’s Asia-Pacific chief Peter Wong said he had noticed the speech from Cha but that he would stick to the bank’s principle and “refrain from commenting on political items and issues”.
The Financial Services Development Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The comments triggered outrage on social media and nearly 6,000 people had signed the petition by Friday evening. The web site of the petition said it had been launched by Jeffrey Chan from Hong Kong. It only appeared to be in English.
“We, the Hong Kong public, will not stand these remarks likening our rights to slavery, nor will we stand the kind of voter disenfranchisement her and her associates attempt to perpetrate on the Hong Kong public,” said the petition to HSBC, that sought an apology from Cha.
The petition is addressed to the HSBC board of directors and is signed “The People of Hong Kong”.
China has ruled Hong Kong since 1997 through a “one country, two systems” formula which allows wide-ranging autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland and specifies universal suffrage as an eventual goal.
But Beijing said in August it would screen candidates who want to run for the city’s election for a chief executive in 2017, which democracy activists said rendered the notion of universal suffrage meaningless.
For more than a month, key roads leading into three of Hong Kong’s most economically and politically important districts have been barricaded with wood and steel by thousands of protesters.
The protests drew well over 100,000 at their peak. Hundreds of demonstrators remained at the main protest site in Admiralty district close to government buildings last night, some dressed in Halloween costumes.
REUTERS
