CHINA: Chinese politicians vote today on political reform in Hong Kong and are expected to ignore the demands of pro-democracy groups and instead strongly back the territory's chief executive Tung Chee-Hwa.
Beijing says top officials of China's parliament need to review - to clear up confusion - two clauses in Hong Kong's mini-constitution, the Basic Law, which sets out how the territory's chief executive and lawmakers are chosen.
But critics of the government task force, set up to review the Basic Law, fear Beijing's move is an attempt to end calls for more democracy in Hong Kong, which is due to hold elections in September.
Pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong are worried the closed-door meeting of the National People's Congress (NPC) on revisions to the Basic Law, implemented after the territory was handed over to China in 1997, will give Beijing complete control over if and when people may elect their leaders. They say the proposed changes could push back the prospect of full elections by years.
Police broke up a demonstration by pro-democracy activists in the former British colony last week after a government task force said Beijing would have the last word on any political changes in Hong Kong.
The task force was set up after a half a million people demonstrated in July last year to demand that the city's chief executive and its legislature be directly elected.
Some political analysts say Beijing has been rattled both by the scale of the protests in July and the post-election uncertainty in Taiwan - viewed as a renegade province - and has ruled out the prospect of early direct elections. They say the central government is worried that calls for greater democracy could spread to the mainland and undermine the Communist Party's rule. Hong Kong's chief secretary, Mr Donald Tsang, said it was "political reality" that Beijing had a voice in Hong Kong's future.