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Talk about hypocrisy

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Two years ago, Beijing reneged on promises made to Hong Kong about the development of democracy in the city. At the time, then chief executive Tung Chee-hwa made public nine conditions imposed by the central government that had to be met before the city was ready for universal suffrage.

Now, to mark the 16th anniversary of the Basic Law, its so-called 'guardians' in Beijing have again said that Hong Kong is not ready for full democracy.

It is the height of arrogance for members of the Communist Party to present themselves as experts on universal suffrage and to make pronouncements about whether the time is right for democracy.

After all, the party does not permit opposition parties and, after more than half a century in power, still does not allow free elections.

One so-called 'expert', Xu Chongde , said universal suffrage could be implemented if it could be guaranteed that 'patriots' would be elected. Who, one wonders, should decide which candidates are patriotic and which are not? Presumably, Mr Xu and other party members would make that decision.

This is equivalent to saying that an election cannot be held until it can be decided ahead of time who the winner will be. It is the negation of the very concept of holding an election.

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