Student democracy movement leader Joshua Wong vowed on Thursday to continue his hunger strike despite warnings about his health and concern over the future of the two-month-old Occupy Central movement.
Wong, who has been fasting along with two other members of his activist group Scholarism, and who was joined by two other student hunger strikers on Wednesday, says he wants the Hong Kong government to reinstate talks with protesters over their demands for fully democratic elections in 2017.
Wong appeared very weak on Thursday, but apologized after being given glucose when his blood sugar levels plummeted, on advice from a medical team caring for the hunger strikers.
Hong Kong's secretary for food and health Ko Wing-man warned the fasting students, who pledged to drink only water and eat no food, that hunger striking is bad for their health.
"From a medical point of view, any sort of fast, including that in which nothing is eaten or in which only liquids or water are taken, are all bad for health," Ko told reporters.
In Taiwan, Wang Dan, a former student leader in the 1989 pro-democracy movement in Beijing, called on the five Hong Kong students to end their hunger strike.
"As long as the mountains are green, there will always be fuel for the fire," Wang wrote on Facebook on Thursday. "It doesn't matter if you lose a battle; winning the war is more important."
Worsening condition
A Scholarism volunteer identified only by his nickname Ernest told RFA that the five hunger strikers' conditions had already worsened, and that the three who began refusing food on Monday were the weakest.
"There are medical staff who monitor their health at regular intervals, so as to make sure they're not in danger," he said.
As the hunger strike continued, the ruling Chinese Communist Party warded off growing international criticism of its refusal to allow the public nomination of candidates in the 2017 elections for the territory's chief executive.
According to an Aug. 31 decision from the country's parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC), all five million of Hong Kong's voters will cast ballots in the poll, but may only choose between two or three candidates vetted by a Beijing-backed election committee.
China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying hit out at calls from U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel on Wednesday for Beijing to exercise restraint and flexibility in dealing with the wishes of Hong Kong people.
"The Chinese side resolutely opposes any interference in any form by any foreign country," Hua told a regular news briefing in Beijing on Thursday.
She repeated Beijing's claim that the Occupy movement in Hong Kong was incited by "some individuals and forces."
Last week, Ni Jian, deputy Chinese ambassador to Britain, told British officials that the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration "is now void and only covered the period from the signing in 1984 until the handover in 1997."
Ni's comments were reported during a parliamentary debate on Tuesday by Richard Ottaway, chairman of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee.
Hua responded: "Britain has no sovereignty over Hong Kong that has returned to China, no authority and no right to oversight."
The next move
The influential Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS) said on Thursday that student protest leaders are now considering whether to continue occupying major highways and intersections near government headquarters in the Admiralty district and busy Causeway Bay shopping district.
Students have continued "shopping tour" walking protests around the former Occupy site in Kowloon's Mong Kok district after the site was forcefully cleared by riot police using tear-gas spray and batons last week.
HKFS spokeswoman Yvonne Leung told a local program on Hong Kong's Commercial Radio that students could decide within a week whether to remain in place.
"Some protesters have expressed a wish to stay until police clear the sites, but we also need to think clearly about what purpose a continued occupation would serve," she said.
She said the HKFS would gather opinions and views from protesters before making "a concrete decision."
A student occupier surnamed Lee told RFA on Thursday that there is now a clear split within the ranks of occupiers between those who want to stay and those who want to call an end to occupation.
"I will respect whatever decision the federation makes, but I won't leave if they do," said Lee, who added that he didn't agree with the hunger strike as a strategy for boosting popular support for the pro-democracy movement.
"There's a limit to how much public sympathy the hunger strike can win," he added. "It would be better to take good care of oneself so as to better resist police violence."
Reported by Wong Lok-to and Ho Shan for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Xin Lin for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.