Hong Kong's dubious democracy

The protest shows that relations between Beijing and Hong Kong have entered a new stage.

In theory, anyone unhappy with the way Hong Kong was being run would demonstrate against the local administration of Chief Executive Donald Tsang, and not the central government because the region is meant to enjoy a “high degree of autonomy.”

However, the march on the first day of the new decade reflected today's political realities: Decisions about political reforms are not made in Hong Kong but in Beijing.

Before the handover, the Chinese government assured Hong Kong people that their future lay in their own hands. Thus, the then-director of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, Lu Ping, said in 1993: “The future development of Hong Kong's democracy is a matter entirely within Hong Kong's autonomy. The central government will not intervene.”

However, 11 years later, the central government did intervene. In 2004, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's parliament, decided that Hong Kong could not initiate the process leading to universal suffrage without first obtaining Beijing's approval.

The Basic Law, Hong Kong's mini-constitution, says if a two-thirds majority of members of the Legislative Council endorses an amendment to change the way the legislature is chosen, and if the chief executive consents, then the amendment can be sent to the standing committee, not for approval, but merely “for the record.” But that body decided in 2004 that it was not bound to record any such amendment.

By injecting itself so openly into Hong Kong's political processes, the central government made itself the potential target of protests. It is perhaps surprising that large-scale marches against the central government had not taken place until now.

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