Freedom-seeking residents of Hong Kong fear the Beijing government is trying to cheat on its promise to introduce all-out democracy in the territory by 2017. In recent months, the Communist government has said that “democracy” will occur with candidates chosen (or approved) by a committee controlled by the politburo. The spectre of this type of non-democracy posing as real freedom prompted more than 780,000 Hong Kongers to vote in unofficial referendums this week and ending Sunday. It was the final day of the outpouring of concerns that has been branded illegal by local and mainland Chinese authorities. Hong Kong is a capitalist showplace for China. It has some seven million largely well-educated people who are tired of waiting for democracy. For a century, Hong Kong was run by the British on a lease which expired in 1997. While Beijing says Hong Kong can go ahead with a vote in 2017 for the city’s top leader, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, specifies that only a nominating committee can pick leadership candidates. Democracy activists want the nomination process to be open to everyone, in line with international standards. 780,000 HK citizen-democrats defy Beijing
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Freedom-seeking residents of Hong Kong fear the Beijing government is trying to cheat on its promise to introduce all-out democracy in the territory by 2017. In recent months, the Communist government has said that “democracy” will occur with candidates chosen (or approved) by a committee controlled by the politburo. The spectre of this type of non-democracy posing as real freedom prompted more than 780,000 Hong Kongers to vote in unofficial referendums this week and ending Sunday. It was the final day of the outpouring of concerns that has been branded illegal by local and mainland Chinese authorities. Hong Kong is a capitalist showplace for China. It has some seven million largely well-educated people who are tired of waiting for democracy. For a century, Hong Kong was run by the British on a lease which expired in 1997. While Beijing says Hong Kong can go ahead with a vote in 2017 for the city’s top leader, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, specifies that only a nominating committee can pick leadership candidates. Democracy activists want the nomination process to be open to everyone, in line with international standards. 