Democracy on the edge

Seattle Times: The frustration of democracy in Hong Kong is an ominous event.
That former British colony, which is a bit larger in population than the state of Washington, is the most prosperous and progressive part of China. When China resumed control from Britain in 1997, one of its many promises was to respect Hong Kong's partial democracy, and to let it evolve into the genuine article.
Hong Kong's legislature has 60 seats, of which 24 were directly elected in the last election, and 30 will be directly elected in the next, scheduled for September. The chief executive, C.H. Tung, was effectively appointed by Beijing. The promise was that legislators and the executive would be elected, though China never said quite how that was to occur.
China did say when. Change was allowed to begin in 2007. Now that 2007 approaches, China has erected a roadblock, declaring that any changes in Hong Kong's electoral system will have to be approved in Beijing. The people of Hong Kong have taken that to mean no change.
Independence
Beijing has generally abided by the promises it made to Hong Kong in 1997, but the Chinese leadership is fearful of democracy. They have seen the recent election in Taiwan, in which a party founded on the idea of independence held onto power by the thinnest of margins. China saw also the demonstrations in Hong Kong last July 1, when 500,000 protested China's attempt to impose an internal-security law. This was followed by community elections in which the Democratic Party of Hong Kong, which Beijing does not like, won those elections.
Publicly, China tends to associate such defiance with "chaos," which it says it will not tolerate. But the protests in Hong Kong were not chaotic. They were peaceful acts by politically mature people standing up for their interests. Nor were the elections chaotic. Sometimes elections may result in chaos, as when the losers refuse to accept the result, but generally, democracy is a way of avoiding chaos. Certainly, elections have been peaceful in Hong Kong.
By thwarting democracy, it is China that risks chaos. It is all unnecessary, because the Hong Kong people are not fanatical, and have long since given up any idea of independence.