HONG KONG, June 29 (Reuters) - Hong Kong marks the fourth anniversary of its reunion with China on Sunday but spirits have been dampened by rising unemployment, falling incomes and fears that promises of autonomy from communist rule have been eroded.
A low-key flag-raising ceremony will open the day, with the territory's Beijing-chosen leader Tung Chee-hwa and some 500 government officials looking on but no senior representative from the mainland.
A no-frills cultural show, reflecting the city's austere mood, will be staged in the evening, in sharp contrast to the extravaganzas and fireworks at the time of the handover.
The territory's vocal pro-democracy groups plan rallies to call for direct elections for Hong Kong's next leader in 2002 and better welfare for the territory's poor.
Concern over whether Hong Kong will continue to enjoy the high level of autonomy promised by China has prompted the United States to draft a fresh report on the territory. The report is expected to be released within about a month.
But most of Hong Kong's seven million people are more worried about their pocket books than any erosion of civil rights since the end of more than 150 years of British rule in July 1997.
"Most people are very worried about the economy. They are suffering from negative equity, unemployment, and middle-aged people face great difficulty finding jobs," said Li Pang-kwong, associate professor of politics at Lingnan University.
Still fragile after Asia's deep financial crisis in 1997-1999, Hong Kong is now suffering from the weakening global economy.
An array of businesses from restaurants to retailers have closed, pushing up unemployment to 4.6 percent and casting a pall of reunification celebrations.
Household incomes of lower-income groups have fallen 30 percent in the last four years to HK$4,500 (US$577) a month, and middle-income families live on HK$17,000, down five percent.
"Poverty and unemployment are our biggest problems," said activist Leung Kwok-hung, who will head a protest on the fringe of the flag-raising ceremony to press for more welfare.
RIGHTS WORRIES
Tung, reviled by human rights groups and largely unpopular with the public, is likely to face another barrage of criticism from pro-democracy activists for what they perceive as his kowtowing to Beijing.
"He persistently sells out Hong Kong to be in Beijing's good books," said Law Yuk-kai of the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor.
Tung compromised judicial independence in 1999 when he asked Beijing to overturn a ruling by Hong Kong's highest court, which had backed residency rights for children born to local residents.
Tung said he feared the Hong Kong court's ruling would lead to an influx of as many as 1.67 million mainland immigrants who had at least one parent in Hong Kong.
He triggered an uproar recently when he echoed Beijing in branding the controversial Falun Gong spiritual group as an "evil cult," which human rights and religious groups fear could be a prelude to banning it. The group is already outlawed in China.
He also has promoted a bill that grants Beijing the power to sack future Hong Kong leaders. It goes to the rubber-stamp legislature on July 11.
"(It's) an invitation to interfere. A timebomb," Law said.
(US$ - HK$7.78)
00:05 06-29-01
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