Beijing rejects full Hong Kong democracy
Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement has suffered a major setback following Beijing’s decision to rule out open nominations for the city’s 2017 elections. Activists now pledge to “launch a wave of protest actions.”
Deutsche Welle
Chinese authorities said on August 31 they will tightly control the nomination of candidates for the election of Hong Kong’s chief executive in 2017, a move that could trigger sit-ins and other forms of protest over the next several months.
The National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) – China’s top legislative committee – decided that the city’s next chief executive will be elected by popular vote in 2017, but only after each candidate is approved by a majority of a 1,200-member election committee. “The nominating committee shall nominate two to three candidates for the office of Chief Executive in accordance with democratic procedure,” the decision says, according to the state-run news agency Xinhua. “Each candidate must have the endorsement of more than half of all the members of the nominating committee.”
The NPCSC’s statements came on the same day as Fernando Chui, the pro-Beijing leader of Macau – another special administrative region – was re-elected unopposed by a select election panel composed of 400 largely pro-China loyalists in the former Portuguese colony. The vote had been preceded by a week-long unofficial referendum on the city’s political future.
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Video: China rules out full democracy for Hong Kong
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Video: China rejects full democracy for Hong Kong
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Video: Disappointment in Hong Kong
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