Martin Lee

Biography

Lee was born in Hong Kong, the sixth of seven children, and raised in Guangzhou, China. A Hakka of Huizhou ancestry, he is the son of a former Kuomintang major general. After he graduated from Wah Yan College, Kowloon, Lee obtained his undergraduate BA degree in English and Philosophy at the University of Hong Kong. After graduation, he worked as a teacher for three years. He then studied law at Lincoln's Inn in London.

Early career

Lee was appointed Queen's Counsel of Hong Kong in 1979, and was the chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association from 1980-83. He was a LegCo member from 1985-97.

Leaving Basic Law draft committee

From 1985-89 Lee was a member of the Hong Kong Basic Law Drafting Committee until he was forced to leave the committee immediately after the infamous Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

He speculated that the long-term trends in the PRC were not in favour of moving towards democracy and human rights. Lee's activism to renew the momentum behind the Chinese democracy movement has stalled since 1989. Most notable is Lee's call for the overthrow of mainland China's leadership. His role in leading the protest in Hong Kong have led him to be banned from visiting mainland China. The only exception was made during a brief 2005 visit to Guangdong province.

Democracy icon

He chaired the Hong Kong Consumer Council from 1988 to 1991. Lee also chaired the United Democrats of Hong Kong (UDHK) since its establishment in 1991, and retained his chairmanship when the group was transformed into the Democratic Party in 1994. He was succeeded in the position by Yeung Sum in 2001. In the run up to the 1997 transfer of Hong Kong to mainland China, Lee was an outspoken critic of China's policy towards Hong Kong and a supporter of the political reform of the last Governor Chris Patten, who said later that "Hong Kong was lucky to have him".

Internationally he became an icon for fighting the Chinese government for more democracy in Hong Kong, and was recognised and awarded by a number of international organisations, including the "1995 International Human Rights Award" by the American Bar Association, the Prize For Freedom by the Liberal International in 1996, the "Democracy Award" by the United States' National Endowment for Democracy in 1997, and the "Schuman Medal" in 2000 which Lee was the first non-European to receive from the European Peoples Party and European Democrats.

Defending HK special international status

Lee supported the overseas governments legitimate concern over the situation in Hong Kong. He cited the 1992 US-HK policy act, which allowed the US Government to give Hong Kong special economic treatments that differ from mainland China. Under the act the US is committed to support democratic institutions in Hong Kong, and could terminate Hong Kong's special economic treatment if the US President considers Hong Kong is not autonomous enough to justify such treatments.

Tung Chee-hwa countered the generally negative image of Hong Kong under Communist Party rule, and said Lee was "bad mouthing" the Special Administrative Region in front of the international audience.

Improving PRC human rights via Olympic

In October 2007, Lee published an article named "China's Olympic Opportunity" in The Wall Street Journal criticising People's Republic of China for not living up to its promise to improve its human rights status during the Chinese Olympic bid. However, Lee urged the West, particularly the United States, not to boycott the 2008 Olympic games but to instead take the opportunity, while China is opening itself up to the world, to directly engage China in efforts to bring China closer to the international community in terms of its human rights.

His article was somehow being twisted and words like "direct engagement" was translated to Chinese equivalent of "intervene", and some media even claimed that Lee asked United States to boycott the games. This immediately stirred backlash from Beijing loyalists, who virtually accused Lee of being a hanjian. On 27 October, the Democratic Party issued an announcement to newspapers setting out the party's position regarding the article Lee published. Chairman Albert Ho reiterated, "It is not an apology, but a clear declaration of what we stand for."

Criticism

As early as 1992 the People's Republic of China warned then Hong Kong governor Chris Patten, that Lee must not be appointed to the Executive Council. The pro-Beijing camp have since called Lee a "traitor of China" in 2004 upon his return from Washington D.C. His patriotism toward China has been questioned along with his Chinese identity, mostly by pro-Beijing supporters.

Lee's father is connected to the Nationalist Party of China. Some have complained the democratic movement have gone too far and his staunch stance in favour of universal suffrage at the earliest possible date is destructive to the local business climate and political stability.