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Christus Rex Information ServiceForeign Minister Qian Qichen suggested in an interview published Wednesday that Hong Kong might have to stop commemorating the June 4, 1989, crackdown on pro-democracy campaigners in Beijing.
"In the future, Hong Kong should not hold those political activities which directly interfere in the affairs of the mainland of China," Qian was quoted by the Asian Wall Street Journal as saying.
Qian also hinted that freedom of speech in Hong Kong would be limited.
The media "can put forward criticism, but not rumors or lies," Qian said. "Nor can they put forward personal attacks on the Chinese leaders."
Chris Patten, whose term as governor ends July 1, 1997, when Hong Kong is returned to the Chinese, promised to discuss the matter with British Prime Minister John Major and Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind in London next week.
"What Mr. Qian appeared to be saying about freedom of speech, about freedom of the press, about freedom of assembly, seems to be wholly at variance, wholly at odds" with the terms of a 1984 treaty which set the terms of the handover, he said.
China's Foreign Ministry said Qian's remarks had been misinterpreted.
"Our policy has not changed. It's still one country, two systems," spokesman Shen Guofang said Thursday.
The handover agreement allows China and Hong Kong each to run their own affairs after the change of sovereignty.
China has promised Hong Kong can maintain its freedoms and capitalist system, but has not shown how this can be reconciled with the kind of restrictions suggested by Qian.
Yeltsin's swift decision to appoint a replacement appeared aimed at ending the Kremlin infighting that has plagued his administration while he's at a government rest house awaiting a coronary bypass.
Yeltsin's decree also named Rybkin as the president's chief representative in negotiations with separatist rebels in Chechnya. A separate decree dismissed Lebed, who had negotiated a truce with the rebels in August, from that position as well.
Yeltsin appears to have bought himself a respite from weeks of Kremlin power struggles by firing Lebed, but the dismissed national security chief clearly took his dismissal as freeing him to go after Yeltsin's job.
Lebed, who openly aspires to the presidency, appeared at a Moscow theater Friday night and gave every appearance of kicking off a campaign.
Before the play about Ivan the Terrible, one of the most feared rulers in Russian history, he joked that he was attending the performance "so I can learn to govern."
On leaving the theater, he quipped that the play had taught him how not to govern.
Newspaper commentary today suggested that Lebed believes that with the heart trouble that plagues Yeltsin, presidential elections will be held sooner rather than later.
"Despite Lebed's claims that he will not start a new presidential campaign under an incumbent president, he is being sly," the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda said on its front page.
Tatiana Malkina, a political commentator for the newspaper Segodnya, said that while Yeltsin does not like talk about new presidential elections, "the election contest cannot be avoided."
Lebed's firing Thursday has brought calm for the moment to the Kremlin, wrought by bickering and scheming since the president disappeared from sight in the early summer with what eventually was revealed to be blocked arteries.
Opposition leaders across the political spectrum gave the president rare support Friday for his dismissal of Lebed, with some saying that Lebed was dangerous and should have been fired sooner.
While Lebed has said he will not campaign while Yeltsin remains in office, he did not mask his goal of rallying Russians around him for the election that will take place if the ailing Yeltsin dies or has to step down.
"I am thinking about my political direction," he said in comments aired repeatedly on Russian television Friday. "Of course, it will be a democratic one ... I am only going forward."
Lawmakers' strong support for Lebed's firing reflected how nearly all the political parties regard the pugnacious ex-paratrooper as a major political and electoral threat to their own fortunes. During his four months in the president's inner circle, Lebed was scathingly critical of most of them.
Lebed was fired just a day after Interior Minister Anatoly Kulikov, Lebed's bitter rival for authority in security decisions, accused him of plotting to form his own army so he could seize power. No evidence has surfaced to back the sensational charge.
Yeltsin's second term, which began in August, lasts until 2000. But with multiple bypass surgery set for next month, jockeying for position has begun among those who presume he won't finish out the term.
"Timing is very important," said Andrei Piontkowsky, director of the Strategic Studies Center, an independent Moscow think tank.
"If the elections are in four years, I think it will be difficult for Lebed to keep the public attention around him. But if it will be in the next few months, his chances are very strong."
Opposition leaders across the political spectrum gave the president rare support Friday for his dismissal of Lebed as security chief the day before, with some saying that Lebed was dangerous and should have been fired sooner.
But while it seems that everyone in politics is against him, a smiling and relaxed Lebed showed he was not to be vanquished, taking no respite Friday from his unabashed drive to become president. He gave every appearance of launching a campaign for the job.
In the evening, he flashed a V-for-victory sign at the mob of journalists and well-wishers who turned out to greet him when he went to a Moscow theater.
Earlier Friday, he pointed out that the play was about Ivan the Terrible, one of the most feared rulers in Russian history. He joked, with a crooked smile, that he was attending the performance "so I can learn to govern."
While he has said he will not campaign while Yeltsin remains in office, he did not mask his goal of rallying Russians around him for the election that will take place if the ailing Yeltsin dies or has to step down.
"I am thinking about my political direction," he said in comments aired repeatedly on Russian television. "Of course, it will be a democratic one ... I am only going forward."
Lebed's firing brought calm for the moment to the Kremlin, wrought by bickering and scheming since the president disappeared from sight in the early summer with heart problems. The streets of Moscow were quiet, too, confirming that change-weary Russians were in no mood for uprisings or rebellions.
Lawmakers' strong support for Lebed's firing reflected how nearly all the political parties regard the pugnacious ex-paratrooper as a major political and electoral threat to their own fortunes. During his four months in the president's inner circle, Lebed was scathingly critical of most of them.
--Stanislav Govorukhin, a leader of the left-wing People's Power faction, has been a critic of the Yeltsin administration but said Lebed was even worse. "Lebed reconciled me with the present government because I suddenly quite clearly saw what a frightening face the other could have," he said.
--Ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a former presidential candidate, called for legislation to ban top military officers from politics. "The outlook of generals is radically different from that of ordinary people ... because it's based on force," he said.
--Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, Yeltsin's bitter opponent in last summer's elections, said Yeltsin should have fired Lebed at least a month ago. The president had drawn on Lebed's support to defeat Zyuganov, taking Lebed into his government after the general came in third in the first round of voting.
Zyuganov accused the president of failing to lead the country.
"Promises given during the election have not been fulfilled," said Zyuganov. "Instead we have a conflict that has grown into the bickering of generals ... on TV."
Lebed was fired just a day after Interior Minister Anatoly Kulikov, Lebed's bitter rival for authority in security decisions, accused him of plotting to form his own army so he could seize power. No evidence has surfaced to back the sensational charge.
But while leaders congratulated Yeltsin for firing Lebed, there was speculation that the retired general actually provoked Yeltsin to fire him as part of a calculated electoral strategy. The firing could let the former general enhance his popularity by claiming the role of political martyr. His popularity has already benefited from his brokering peace with Chechen rebels.
On Friday, the former warring sides in Chechnya pledged to adhere to their cease-fire, despite Lebed's ouster. Yeltsin's chief spokesman, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, promised that even with Lebed out of the picture, Russia will continue to work to resolve Chechnya's future status. Yastrzhembsky credited Yeltsin, not Lebed, for the progress to date.
There was concern about a rekindling of the war in Chechnya following the departure of Lebed, who signed peace accords halting the fighting in August. Lebed's rivals in the Kremlin favor tough military action to end the secessionist campaign by Chechen rebels.
Yeltsin's second term, which began in August, lasts until 2000. But with multiple bypass surgery set for next month, pre-election jockeying has begun among those who presume he won't finish out the term.
"Timing is very important," said Andrei Piontkowsky, director of the Strategic Studies Center, an independent Moscow think tank.
"If the elections are in four years, I think it will be difficult for Lebed to keep the public attention around him. But if it will be in the next few months, his chances are very strong."
Yeltsin is already considering possible candidates to succeed Lebed as secretary of the Security Council and is likely to announce the appointment next week, Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin said.
Russian markets sank at the outset of trading Friday but rebounded later on the view that Lebed's firing might bring peace to the Kremlin.
"Now in Russia we have what we have not had for a long time -- the power is in the hands of a single team: Yeltsin, Chernomyrdin, (presidential chief of staff Anatoly) Chubais," the Kommersant Daily said.
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