Hong Kong's leader told Beijing on Tuesday that the city's residents wanted a full election in 2017, but said the financial hub would have to abide by the restrictive framework set down by China's communist authorities.

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying offered no firm proposal, but said the contest would be run according to the Basic Law, or miniconstitution, that has governed Hong Kong since Britain returned it to Chinese rule in 1997, rather than international standards.

That document stipulates that candidates for the position of chief executive must be approved in advance by a "broadly representative" special committee. The city's pro-democracy opposition fears it will be shut out of the poll.