China moved on Wednesday to limit 2017 elections for Hong Kong's leader to a handful of candidates loyal to Beijing, local media reported, a move that is likely to escalate plans by pro-democracy activists to blockade the city's Central business district.

Hong Kong, which returned to Chinese rule from British colonial administration in 1997, has been deeply polarized and hit by protests over how its next leader is chosen in 2017 — by universal suffrage, as the democrats would like, or from a list of pro-Beijing candidates.

The decision to allow only two to three candidates to run in the 2017 election and not to allow open nominations was carried in a draft resolution that was published during a meeting of the National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing, Hong Kong's RTHK radio reported, citing an unnamed source.