Territory loses vote for leaders

Many in Hong Kong are demanding the right to full elections.
HONG KONG (AP) -- Mainland China dealt a crushing blow to Hong Kong's hopes for full democracy, when its most powerful legislative panel ruled that the territory won't have direct elections for its next leader or for all its lawmakers in 2008.
Many people in Hong Kong have been demanding the right to democratically elect a successor to their chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, a former shipping tycoon chosen for his position by an 800-member committee that tends to side with Beijing.
But the Chinese National People's Congress Standing Committee said today "universal suffrage shall not apply" to the selection of a Tung successor in 2007 or members of the Legislative Council the next year.
Under the ruling, the territory will be allowed to make changes to its electoral methods -- but only "in the principle of gradual and orderly progress," China's official news agency Xinhua quoted the committee as saying.
Possible expansion
In a hint of the reforms that might be possible, Hong Kong's No. 2 official, Donald Tsang, said the committee that selects Tung's successor could be expanded to make it more representative.
But Tsang sought to play down any hopes that the public will have a greater say.
"We must understand the political reality," he said.
When Hong Kong reverted from British administration to Chinese rule in 1997, Beijing's leadership promised a "one country, two systems" governance that would ensure the territory's autonomy for coming decades. International observers said that would protect Hong Kong's status as an economic jewel.
Hong Kong's mini-constitution, the Basic Law, holds out the possibility that ordinary residents can elect their next leader in 2007 and all lawmakers by 2008. But earlier this month, the Standing Committee ruled that Beijing would have to give advance approval for any political changes.
Tung then proposed a set of nine guidelines that any reforms should meet, including keeping China's views in mind.
Defending policy
China insisted it had paid heed to the public's wishes. Beijing noted that Hong Kong's system of partial democracy gives ordinary people more say than they had under 156 years of British colonial rule.
"Before 1997, the Hong Kong compatriots, including your fathers and mothers, had no democracy," Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing told reporters in Shanghai. "Now, everything follows the rule of law, and this is real democracy."
Although ordinary Hong Kong citizens have no say in picking their leader, they will directly elect 30 of 60 Legislative Council members in September, up from 24 last time.
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