A prominent businesswoman and politician has come under fire for comparing the Hong Kong protesters’ bid for democracy to that of African-American slaves.
Laura Cha, a nonofficial member of Hong Kong’s Executive Council, and the first non-mainlander to serve China’s central government at a vice-ministerial level, was in Paris on Wednesday promoting Hong Kong at a trade event when she made the analogy.
“American slaves were liberated in 1861, but did not get voting rights until 107 years later,” she was reported as saying by The Standard, an English-language Hong Kong newspaper. “So why can’t Hong Kong wait for a while?”
An online petition soon emerged denouncing Ms. Cha’s remarks and calling on her to apologize immediately.
“Furthermore, we’re puzzled by her lack of understanding of American history, and why she failed to understand that the full ratification of the 15th Amendment in 1870 already granted full emancipation to African-American slaves, including full voting rights,” the petition said.
“The 107-year plight of African-Americans to the Civil Rights Act, enacted in 1964 to protect African-Americans from voter intimidation, disenfranchisement and unfair voting requirements and restrictions, is not entirely dissimilar to the kind of voter disenfranchisement she and the governments she represents are trying to force on the Hong Kong public.”
The petition, which was shared through social media and attracted more than 5,000 signatures by Friday, was addressed to the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation’s board of directors, of which Ms. Cha is a member.
It urged HSBC to “strongly denounce” the remarks and educate Ms. Cha about the United States Civil Rights Act.
HSBC Asia-Pacific’s chief executive, Peter Wong, said in an emailed statement that he had “noticed” the speech, but would “stick to the bank’s principle and refrain from commenting on political items and issues, including Occupy Central.”
Ms. Cha did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Friday, a spokesman for the Executive Council, Michael Yu, commented in an email that Ms. Cha’s statement was “by way of example that every country’s path to democracy was evolved in its own historical context.”
“She did not mean any disrespect and regrets that her comment has caused concerns,” he wrote.
Her remarks follow those made by the Hong Kong chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, who last week told The New York Times and other foreign news outlets that open elections would lead to politics being dominated by the interests of poorer residents.
This week he expressed regret over the “misunderstanding” caused by his comments.