Opposition lawmakers poured scorn on a plea by Hong Kong leader
Donald Tsang to galvanise the city behind unpopular electoral reform
plans that threaten to tip over into a constitutional crisis.

Tsang’s televised appeal Wednesday was counterproductive, they said,
and instead steeled opponents as they prepared to protest against the
proposals in a mass rally scheduled for Sunday.

The chief executive’s reform plan, first rolled out in October, seeks
to move the southern Chinese territory away from a system in which
political leaders are selected by a committee of mostly Beijing-backed
elites.

However, democrats agitating for universal suffrage say the measures
don’t move the former British colony close enough to full democracy and
have vowed to vote the bill down in the legislature.

In his speech, Tsang said his proposals were the best chance democrats had of realising their dream of full democracy.

"I really cannot see any other option that can better suit Hong Kong’s
current circumstances," he said in the emotionally charged five-minute
broadcast. "We are now facing a real danger of our democratic
development coming to a halt."

Democrats were unmoved, saying they believed the address was counterproductive to his position.

"We have to thank Donald because from what I have heard, people are not
happy at being told what to do by him. He has instead brought more
attention to us," said veteran pro-democracy lawmaker Emily Lau.

"He didn’t look good and it did him no good at all. He may even have encouraged more people to join our march," Lau added.

Bobo Yip of march organisers Civil Human Rights Front agreed: "The free
advertisement was wonderful," she told the South China Morning Post
daily.

Tsang is obliged by the Basic Law, the post-colonial constitution, to introduce an electoral system based on universal suffrage.

At the moment, only half the 60-seat legislature is directly elected.

The law, however, gives no target date, and legislators and Chinese and
Hong Kong officials have fought a bitter feud over the timing ever
since the city reverted to Chinese rule in 1997.

Tsang proposed only modest interim reform proposals after Beijing last year ruled out a swift transition to full democracy.

Beijing opposes any sudden change, fearing it may spark democratic
sentiment on the mainland or instability in Hong Kong, China’s richest
city and the conduit for much of the investment that fuels the
mainland’s economic growth.

Democrats have said they may consider passing the proposals if Tsang
gave them a clear timetable for the implementation of steps leading to
full democracy, something he has so far rejected.

Sunday’s march will gather support for that call, organisers hope.

The democratic movement’s figurehead Martin Lee, in Washington to
promote his cause overseas, said Hong Kongers had little alternative
but to protest.

"The people of Hong Kong have no other option but to show
solidarity by joining together, by taking part in peaceful assembly to
voice our aspirations, to let the Beijing leaders know we really want
and deserve democracy," Lee told a public forum in Washington.

If estimates of rally turnouts of 100,000 to 200,000 people
should prove true, they would seriously embarrass the government and
could wound Tsang politically.

The former civil servant, a once loyal servant of the British
colonial government, was not China’s ideal choice to lead the
territory.

But his huge popularity ratings and ability to win over the
public made him the best stand-in when former chief executive Tung
Chee-hwa resigned in March.

His address was part of a carrot-and-stick joint push by Hong
Kong and China to bring opponents around to the government’s position.

The effort also included an invitation by Beijing for Hong Kong
lawmakers — including many democrats banned from the mainland — to
put their claims to a Chinese official on Friday.