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DEMOCRACY
China legislature meets over Hong Kong election reforms
by Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) Aug 25, 2014


Sistine Chapel choir to sing in Asia, but not China
Vatican City (AFP) Aug 25, 2014 - The Sistine Chapel choir will perform in Hong Kong for the first time in September but will not visit mainland China despite efforts to improve the rocky relations between Beijing and the Vatican.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told AFP on Monday that the choral group, one of the oldest religious choirs in the world, will sing in Macao on September 19, followed by concerts in Hong Kong and Taipei on September 21 and 23.

The singers, who normally perform during papal ceremonies, have already toured many regions of the world, including a visit to Moscow earlier this year.

The choir is traditionally made up of around 20 adult singers and 30 male choristers.

According to the EDA religious press agency, "the choir was originally intended to travel to Beijing and other cities in the country as well."

While "negotiations had been underway between the Holy See and Beijing" for the choir to sing in China "as a diplomatic and cultural gesture" aimed at easing tension between the Vatican and China, "obviously they were unsuccessful" it said.

In 2008, during former pope Benedict XVI's papacy, the China philharmonic orchestra and the Shanghai Opera House choir performed at the Vatican.

Pope Francis has been working to warm up relations as he woos young Catholics in Asia, and told journalists this month that "the Holy See is always open to contact, because it has genuine esteem for the Chinese people."

Relations between the Vatican and Beijing have never been easy or particularly fruitful. China severed ties with the Holy See in 1951, and does not recognise the Vatican's authority over its Catholic community.

Francis sent an unprecedented message to Chinese President Xi Jinping as he flew over Chinese airspace to South Korea this month -- but it went missing due to an unexplained technical issue in an apparent setback to efforts to ease tensions.

The top committee of China's rubber-stamp legislature opened a session Monday that will discuss issues including the election method for Hong Kong's chief executive, according to state media reports.

The meeting of the standing committee of the National People's Congress comes with public discontent in the former British colony at its highest for years over perceived interference by Beijing and growing divisions over how its next leader should be chosen in 2017.

Pro-democracy campaigners from the Occupy Central group have pledged to mobilise thousands of protesters to block the financial district later this year if authorities reject the public's right to nominate candidates for the post.

But the movement has been strongly criticised by Beijing and city officials as illegal, radical and potentially violent.

At the standing committee session -- due to run until Sunday -- lawmakers will review a report from Hong Kong's current Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying on whether to revise the election method, Xinhua said previously, among other Chinese issues.

One of the organisers of Occupy Central said he was "anxiously awaiting" the outcome of the session.

"The bottom line is universal suffrage that satisfies international standards must be granted, allowing people of different political backgrounds to contest the election," Chan Kin-man told AFP.

"If there is no room for genuine elections we will be forced to launch our occupation."

Hong Kong was handed back to China by Britain on July 1, 1997 under a "one country, two systems" agreement, which allows residents civil liberties not seen on the mainland, including free speech and the right to protest.

But Beijing is insisting that candidates be vetted before the 2017 vote.

Tens of thousands of people, organised by the pro-government Alliance for Peace and Democracy, earlier this month marched through Hong Kong to protest against the Occupy Central campaign.

The rally came around seven weeks after rival pro-democracy protesters staged a mass march demanding a greater say over how Hong Kong's next leader is chosen.

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