HONG KONG (AFP) - A Hong Kong rights group has boycotted a meeting with a visiting British official, accusing London of failing to speak up in support of pro-democracy politicians in the territory.
Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor said it had snubbed a round-table meeting with foreign office minister Bill Rammell because of comments by Britain`s consul general which it said had harmed its efforts to protect freedoms in the city.
Britain`s Hong Kong envoy Stephen Bradley was criticised in August for challenging the group`s claims that the sacking of an outspoken Beijing-baiting radio host was a cause to fear for free speech.
"A friend in need is a friend indeed. If he could not have offered help he should have shut his mouth," the group`s director Law Yuk-kai said in a statement Monday night.
"Mr Bradley should have spoken out in defence of free speech in Hong Kong at that important moment," Law added. "Instead, he chose to say that there was no sign of free speech in Hong Kong being undermined."
The rights group`s statement came as Hong Kong`s deputy leader met British officials in London to brief them on the former British colony`s faltering steps towards universal suffrage.
Deputy leader Donald Tsang, who is heading a panel looking into electoral reform, told British officials Hong Kong was moving towards universal suffrage.
"My message was that we are working steadily to make our election methods more representative," Tsang said in a government statement Tuesday.
"The final destination is universal suffrage."
Tsang`s team has spent almost a year gathering opinions from industry and community groups on how to alter the system. A report is expected in coming weeks.
Rammell, Britain`s minister with special responsibility for its former colony said that political reform must be for Hong Kong people to decide.
"It would be wrong of me to come in and speculate and specify a particular method of consultation the Hong Kong authorities and Hong Kong people should choose," he said during a one-day stop before flying to Beijing.
10/26/2004 - 07:36 GMT - AFP