Democracy in Hong Kong must be advanced in stages

Since August 2014, when the National People’s Congress Standing Committee publicised its decision to retain the vetting procedure for civil nomination for the 2017 chief executive election, there has been political pandemonium in Hong Kong, resulting in, among other things, the Occupy Central movement.

Pro-democracy groups condemned the Standing Committee’s decision, claiming that such a selection mechanism was contrary to the international standards of “universal suffrage” and the right to participate in public life, which are enshrined in Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. They also said it went against the promises stipulated in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration.

Following Occupy, many writers have discussed the issues of political reform, democracy and the future of “one country, two systems” in Hong Kong.

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However, these discussions have been rather inadequate and, in certain cases, lopsided, as they naively viewed political development in Hong Kong through the prism of Article 26 (the right to vote) of the Basic Law only, forgetting that this document is an incarnation of the “one country, two systems” plan made between China and Britain.