Beijing must approve any election reforms, however, which means that China has the final say. The Communist Party clearly fears growing demands for full democracy could threaten its control over the territory and possibly spread to China.
While much of the public frustration has been directed against Tung and not against China's leaders, political analysts believe that Beijing's increasingly hardline stance will alienate more people before legislative elections later this year.
Recent opinion polls show two-thirds of Hong Kong people want to elect their own leader and all of their legislators from 2007.
RSS