Hong Kong may choose Beijing's pick for leader amid tension

PanARMENIAN.Net - Hong Kong on Sunday, March 26, will likely select Beijing's favored candidate for its next leader who some say will further divide a city where middle class families have become increasingly disaffected by political tension and economic hardship, Reuters reports.

The former British colony, governed under a "one country, two systems" arrangement, was promised a high degree of autonomy and the right to select its chief executive when it was handed over to Communist Chinese rule in 1997.

But on Sunday, 20 years later, only 1,200 people on an election committee stacked with Beijing loyalists will vote for the next leader of the Asian financial hub which witnessed weeks of sometimes violent street protests in 2014 calling for universal suffrage.

Former top civil servant Carrie Lam is widely expected to win, thanks to Beijing's backing. Former finance chief John Tsang, more popular with the densely populated city's 7.3 million people, is expected to get around a quarter of the vote.

With Lam's victory on the cards, some middle class residents see the lack of democracy again fuelling political division and fresh protests, leaving them powerless to tackle livelihood issues such as high property prices and rising inequality.

"The middle class are affected by several problems, the rule of law, governance, housing," said Nick Chung, a 25-year-old working in the IT sector.

"I think it's no longer a matter of helping the middle class alone. It's a structural problem."

Lam has spoken of unifying Hong Kong as one of her top priorities, but some expect her backing from Beijing to have the opposite effect.

Politicians and insiders say Beijing's interference in this election has been unprecedented, violating constitutional safeguards of the city's autonomy.

Mark Pinkstone, a retired civil servant who campaigned for Regina Ip, another former top official eyeing the top job who dropped out of the race, said many election committee members had received phone calls and had face-to-face meetings with Chinese officials who lobbied them to vote a certain way.

"(China's) Central Liaison Office is running the show," Pinkstone told Reuters. Other politicians, including pro-China Michael Tien, have complained publicly about Beijing's "invisible hand".

Zhang Xiaoming, the head of the Liaison Office in Hong Kong, China's main representative office in the city, has dismissed accusations of electoral manipulation. The office didn't respond to a faxed request for comment.

"You see the eventual demise of 'one country, two systems', and if the current rate of deterioration continues ... it will rapidly become 'one country, one system," widely respected former chief secretary Anson Chan told Reuters.