Hong Kong Students Consider Taking Protest to Beijing
Visit Would Coincide With Global Forum Hosted by China
People walk under hundreds of folded paper umbrellas in the occupied area in Causeway Bay, a district of Hong Kong, Thursday. Koji Ueda/Associated Press
By Mia Lamar And Isabella Steger
Updated Oct. 30, 2014 12:26 p.m. ET
HONG KONG—Student leaders here said they are considering taking their demands for democracy to Chinese leaders in Beijing next month when China plays host to a high-profile global summit, a move that would represent a significant escalation of protests.
After five weeks of blocked streets in three of Hong Kong’s densely populated districts, and occasional clashes between police and protesters, little progress has been made to solve the political standoff in the city. At talks between students and Hong Kong government leaders last week, the city’s No. 2 official stressed that she wouldn’t ask China’s leadership to revoke its plan to impose limits on how the city’s leader is elected.
In response, the students at the helm of the protests are now considering traveling to Beijing at time when China’s leaders will host their counterpartsfrom around the world, including U.S. President Barack Obama , at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. The announcement by the student leaders came around 10 p.m. Thursday. The mainland liaison office in Hong Kong couldn’t be immediately reached to comment.
China’s hosting of the summit for the first time in 13 years is a “remarkable achievement” for its president, Xi Jinping , said Alex Chow, leader of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, one of the three main protest groups, in an interview Thursday.
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Mr. Chow said the group intends to discuss the plan with its followers to gauge support and the feasibility of the student leaders gaining any meaningful access at the meeting. The student protesters are calling for Hong Kong to freely elect its next leader in 2017. Hong Kong’s government has insisted that is impossible under a constitution established with Beijing.
Still, it is uncertain whether the students would be allowed in. Hong Kong citizens may travel freely into China as long as they have a special travel permit issued by mainland authorities. But mainland border officers can deny their entry, a tactic that China has used to keep out scholars, activists and others who speak against the mainland authorities.
“The chances of success are unknown,” Mr. Chow said at a news conference late Thursday following speeches in downtown Hong Kong to crowds of protesters. “The number of people [going to China] is undecided.” Mr. Chow said he holds the special permit required to access China.
Some cast doubt on whether China would allow Mr. Chow in.
“If they do let him in, the media battle escalates. There would be costs to keeping him out, but not as high as letting him in,” said Sam Crane, Professor of political science at Williams College in Massachusetts. “Beijing expends a lot of effort to control narrative within China. That is constant. Were Mr. Chow to personally go to Beijing, that control might slip. Or, at least, the Communist Party would worry that their control of the narrative could slip.”
The students’ suggestion to send the protest to Beijing comes days after the group asked the Hong Kong government to set up a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang .
The city’s leaders have said they have no power to change the ruling from China, although authorities have so far largely been tolerant of the protesters with police refraining from clearing most of the sites occupied by the students for fear that any tough action could increase sympathy for the protesters. The office of Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying didn’t respond to a request to comment on the student leaders’ plans.
China has been less accommodating. Through state media it has criticized the protests for being illegal, and has accused foreign countries of fomenting a “color revolution” in the city. In a trip to Germany this month, Premier Li said other countries should respect Chinese sovereignty and that there is no change to the “one country, two systems” doctrine that gives Hong Kong limited autonomy under Beijing’s rule.
China typically goes to great lengths to ensure major conferences like the upcoming APEC summit run smoothly. It had already switched the venue of the groups’ finance ministers and central bankers meeting earlier this year from Hong Kong to Beijing for fears that protesters could disrupt the city.
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Chester Yung contributed to this article.
Write to Mia Lamar at mia.lamar@wsj.com and Isabella Steger at isabella.steger@wsj.com
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