Occupy Central and Constitutional Reform in Hong Kong

(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)Three years after the controversial 2010 electoral reform package was passed by the city's legislature, Hong Kong again stands at a critical juncture the struggle for universal suffrage toward realising full democracy. In Article 45 of the Basic Law, the city's constitution, the selection of the chief executive by universal suffrage is stated as the ultimate aim. However, the same article also stipulates that the selection method shall be specified in light of the actual situation and in accordance with the principle of gradual and orderly progress. (1) Democrats had hoped for the introduction of universal suffrage as soon as 1997, but Article 6 of Annex I to the Basic Law stipulates that the first chief executive shall be selected accordance with the Decision of the National People's Congress (NPC). (2) Because Article 6 only makes specification for the first chief executive, and Article 7 of the same Annex makes provisions for future amendments, the two clauses have been interpreted by democrats as containing the implicit promise that after the first administration, universal suffrage would be introduced as early as 2007. A heavy blow was dealt to such aspirations by Beijing April 2004, when the NPC Standing Committee voted to rule out universal suffrage for the chief executive election 2007. (3) Three years later, it further ruled out universal suffrage for the 2012 election. It was determined at the same session, however, that the election of the fifth chief executive 2017 be implemented by the method of universal suffrage, and that after this all members of the Legislative Council may be elected by universal suffrage. (4) All attention is thus on the current administration, headed by Leung Chun-ying, to launch the reform process toward delivering the first democratically elected chief of the city.As of summer 2013, however, there has been little sign that the leadership intends to commence consultation. The future chief executive, according to the Basic Law, will be elected from a pool of candidates nominated by a broadly representative nominating committee (timing weiyuanhui .. ). Although the exact composition of the committee has yet to be decided, it is believed that Beijing will push for a makeup similar to that of the existing Election Committee (xuanju weiyuanhui ... ), which includes district representatives and lawmakers. Amendments to the Electoral Affairs Commission Ordinance will need to be enacted at least 12 months ahead, and allowing time also for any proposed reform package to be passed through the Legislative Council decisions must be made no later than the final quarter of 2014. (5) Hence, there is urgent need to begin consultation and negotiation as soon as possible. The 1 July march, an annual rally led by the Civil Human Rights Front since the handover, saw a record number of participants since 2004 taking to the streets clamouring for the speedy implementation of democratic reform.This essay will focus on one social movement that has grown out of this context of disillusionment and growing sense of urgency. (zhanling zhonghuan ... ), as it has come to be known, is conceived by Benny Tai Yiu-ting, a moderate law professor, as a last resort strategy to force Beijing to fulfil its promise of democracy. Although it shares the name of the Occupy Wall Street movement New York, the current campaign fights for something rather different. Section one examines the latest debate on electoral reform Hong Kong. Section two demonstrates how Occupy Central presents a unique case study the recent history of social movements the Special Administrative Region (SAR). The following two sections analyse reactions to the movement and seek to answer why Occupy Central, noting how it has not only become the focus of attacks from pro- Beijing groups but has also led certain members of the pan-democratic camp to question its viability. …