In this Heritage Foundation Web memo reacting to Anson Chan Fang On-sang's by-election victory, Ambassador Harvey Feldman, Distinguished Fellow in China Policy at the Asia Studies Center of the influential conservative think tank in Washington, says that Mrs Chan's "election likely will give new energy to the movement for greater democracy and universal suffrage in Hong Kong, but the obstacles imposed by Beijing remain many and daunting." Ambassador Feldman, who served as an American foreign service officer in Hong Kong for eight years, calls on the United States to "continue to insist on the path toward an autonomous Hong Kong, governed by the rule of law and having universal suffrage and greater democracy, as provided in the Basic Law itself." He concludes: "Through its Consul General in Hong Kong, as well as through Congressional and Executive actions, America should support the democratic forces within Hong Kong society."
