Hong Kong Lawmakers Nix Overhaul Plan

HONG KONG â€”  Hong Kong’s pro-democracy lawmakers sent a blunt message to Beijing on Wednesday with the rejection of a government reform plan that lacked a timetable for the Chinese territory to become fully democratic.

Some analysts and lawmakers predicted that the move probably would deepen Beijing’s distrust of pro-democracy legislators in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Since then, Hong Kong has been run under a “one country, two systems� formula that has been promised as a way to give the city autonomy.

Beijing has balked at allowing full democracy but said universal suffrage is a long-term goal.

Hong Kong’s residents enjoy civil liberties -- such as the freedom to assemble, protest and publicly criticize their leaders -- that people on the mainland do not have.

Tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents marched against the reform plan this month.

The government’s proposed changes called for expanding the legislature by 10 seats and doubling the size of an 800-member committee of elites -- of which many members are Beijing loyalists -- that picks Hong Kong’s leader.

The government said it was the best deal it could offer until Hong Kong reached a consensus on how to become democratic. Until that happens, a gradual approach is best, the government and pro-Beijing lawmakers said.

But pro-democracy lawmakers argued that Hong Kong’s well-educated, stable and affluent society was ready to choose its leaders long ago and shouldn’t have to wait.

The pro-democracy faction is in the minority with 25 seats and usually loses legislative battles. But the reform proposal had to pass by two-thirds of the 60 lawmakers.

Both parts of the package fell six votes short of the 40 needed to pass.