New | Universal suffrage for 2017 election should be approved in Beijing ‘on Wednesday’
Members of top legislative body praise Leung Chun-ying's report on political reform, as the chief executive and Occupy Central's Benny Tai clash in Hong Kong
Beijing’s top legislative body should give preliminarily approval on Wednesday for Hong Kong to elect its next leader by “one man, one vote”, according to local deputies to the National People’s Congress speaking in Beijing today.
NPC deputy Ip Kwok-him also said the details of political reform – including highly contested issues such as the nomination threshold for candidates – will be discussed at tomorrow’s meeting, after which a report will be drawn up by senior figures.
In Hong Kong, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said that reform does not have to meet any international standards according to the Basic Law.
Leung pointed out that many aspects of the mainland-Hong Kong relationship – such as the currency peg to the US dollar – are unique to the territory.
But legal academic and Occupy Central co-founder Benny Tai Yiu-ting later argued that Leung had misunderstood.
Article 39 of the Basic Law says that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights remains in force in Hong Kong after the handover, Tai said.