THE COMMENTS OF Vice-Premier Qian Qichen last week, warning against a rapid march towards democratic reform in the SAR, have reignited what was once a highly emotive debate.
It is easy to forget, 12 years on, the widespread disappointment and anger in Hong Kong when details of the political system to be put in place after the return to Chinese rule became clear.
Proposals which would have seen the chief executive and Legislative Council elected by universal suffrage by 2003 were ignored when the Basic Law was finalised in early 1990 in the wake of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Instead, a secret deal between Britain and China, seen by many as a betrayal, paved the way for the far more restrictive constitutional framework existing today.
'In the case of the pace of democracy, we have failed the Hong Kong people,' then legislator Allen Lee Peng-fei said at the time.
While the issue of democratic development tends to be less explosive these days, it is still very much alive. Mr Qian faced allegations of interfering in Hong Kong affairs when he said: 'Just as you have your meal one mouthful after another, development of democracy will also have to be taken on as a gradual process and cannot be achieved at one stroke.'
The reason why Mr Qian's comments are controversial is because the Basic Law allows the system to be reformed after 2007, and states that the 'ultimate aim' is for both the chief executive and all members of Legco to be chosen by universal suffrage.