A leader in the South China Morning Post last Thursday welcomed the statement that Beijing would approve of any candidate for the post of chief executive who had the support of most Hong Kong people. It was, the editorial said, evidence of the central government's openness, and demonstrated its sensitivity towards the local population.
The cartoonist Wheeler was more cynical, however, saying that Beijing itself would decide which candidate had this kind of support. Wheeler's interpretation is the safer bet.
It is a moot point whether it matters, legally, if Beijing 'approves' of a candidate. The Basic Law says that the chief executive should be elected 'locally' and 'appointed' by the central government. It does not give Beijing a veto power and, consequently, does not provide for the eventuality that the central government may not like a candidate.
Even if a veto power existed, using it would precipitate a crisis, expose the fragility of Hong Kong's autonomy and leave the government of Hong Kong bereft of legitimacy. Yet the Basic Law system is based on Beijing's control over the chief executive and, hence, on the appointment of its anointed one - whether through a lingering handshake or a privileged audience.
This is why, during the drafting of the Basic Law, so much effort was put into devising electoral arrangements, centred around a small election committee, that would deliver Beijing's candidate. This is the reason that there has been so much resistance to constitutional and electoral reform. Now, suddenly, Beijing officials are praising the intelligence of Hong Kong people and their ability to choose the right person.
A candidate acceptable to the majority of Hong Kong people sounds suspiciously like an endorsement of universal suffrage. Can there have been such an about-turn?
It would be nice to endorse the sentiment in the Post's leader that the statement by Yang Wenchang , the Foreign Ministry's commissioner in Hong Kong, may presage a more democratic electoral process (albeit based on a restricted nomination procedure).