Pelosi, Bipartisan Delegation Meet with Hong Kong Democracy Leader Martin Lee

Pelosi, Bipartisan Delegation Meet with Hong Kong Democracy Leader Martin Lee

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami, 202-226-7616

Hong Kong - Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a bipartisan congressional delegation met today with Martin Lee, a democracy leader who founded the Hong Kong Democratic Party, to discuss the status of democracy in Hong Kong.

"I continue to be a strong supporter of the 'One Country, Two Systems' concept, as articulated in the Basic Law of Hong Kong, which gives the Hong Kong people a high degree of autonomy," Pelosi said. "The people of Hong Kong deserve the right to elect their own leaders, in accordance with the Basic Law."

Martin Lee is the founding Chairman of the Democratic Party, Hong Kong's largest and most popular political party. Prior to the founding of the party in 1994, Lee was Chairman of the United Democrats of Hong Kong - Hong Kong's first political party - which won the first-ever democratic elections to the territory's Legislative Council in 1991.

In addition to Pelosi, the other members of the congressional delegation are Congressman Edward Markey (D-MA), Chairman, Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming; Congressman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Ranking Member, Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming; Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR); and Congressman Jay Inslee (D-WA). Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-CA) traveled with the delegation earlier but has now returned home to California.

The delegation traveled to China and Hong Kong this week to meet with national and local government officials, business leaders, students, and environmentalists on many aspects of the U.S.-China relationship, including climate change, clean energy, the global financial crisis, human rights, and international trade.