Beijing's plan to dictate policy on political reform in Hong Kong will stifle the push for democracy and undermine the territory's rule of law, critics charged.
"If they cannot twist people's wishes, they will twist the law," said Law Yuk-kai, director of the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, a non-governmental organization.
China stunned Hong Kong by saying Friday night that its most powerful legislative panel would "interpret" provisions of Hong Kong's mini-constitution that spell out how the territory's leader and lawmakers are chosen.
That effectively means Beijing will set the pace for any political reforms. Pro-democracy figures believe Beijing is deliberately quashing their hopes that Hong Kong people could choose their leader and all lawmakers in the next few years.
"It completely kills the discussion on democratic reforms in Hong Kong," said labor activist and lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan.
Pro-democracy activists plan a candlelight vigil on Thursday against Beijing's plan, while a small group of young people protested outside China's representative office in Hong Kong yesterday.
Hong Kong's people are demanding more democracy -- in a system that currently gives them no say on picking their leader though ordinary residents choose some lawmakers. Full democracy was set out as an eventual goal when Hong Kong was returned from Britain to China in July 1997, but there is no timetable.
The push for universal suffrage gained momentum on July 1, when 500,000 people marched and forced Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa (董建華) to withdraw an anti-subversion bill that many viewed as a threat to freedom.
The protest launched a "people power" movement that rattled Tung and left Beijing unsettled. Now, Tung and Beijing are fretting over legislative elections in September, when ordinary voters can fill 30 of the 60 seats, up from 24 last time.
Special interest groups choose the rest, an arrangement that previously has ensured the Legislative Council will support Tung's government. This time, it's possible Hong Kong will get a legislature that won't back Tung.
China's state-run Xinhua News Agency said Friday night that the powerful Standing Committee of the National People's Congress plans soon to "give interpretations" on Hong Kong's mini-constitution relating to the selection of the territory's leader and legislators.
Xinhua quoted a Chinese legal expert as saying the interpretation will have "the same kind of power as the Basic Law itself."
Tung had been informed just hours earlier, but he contended Beijing's involvement would provide a welcome resolution to the raging controversy over democracy.
"By doing this they will be able to help us to move forward in our discussion, to avoid endless wrangling," Tung told a brief news conference, flanked by his chief secretary, his justice secretary and his constitutional affairs secretary.
Beijing's plans to issue a legal "interpretation" of the law recalled its decision to overturn Hong Kong's top court in a 1999 immigration case.
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