HONG KONG -- With Hong Kong having entered its 10th year as a Chinese special administrative region, pressure is building on Beijing to honor its promise of allowing full democratization of this former British colony. Opinion surveys consistently show that the majority of Hong Kong residents want to be able to elect both the chief executive and the entire legislature by universal suffrage.
In 2004, the Chinese government reneged on earlier promises to allow Hong Kong alone to decide when the entire legislature will be elected by universal suffrage. Moreover, it ruled out full democracy for elections in 2007-2008.
As a result, attention is now focused on 2012, when elections are scheduled both for the chief executive and for the Legislative Council. One problem is that the administration of Chief Executive Donald Tsang has toed the central government's line and insists that Beijing never agreed to allow Hong Kong on its own to decide when to adopt full democracy.