Instead of getting more autonomous and democratic, critics argue, Hong Kong is increasingly being strong-armed by cadres in Beijing. “The high degree of autonomy of the HKSAR (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region) is not full autonomy, nor a decentralized power,” it read. Frustration over electoral reform and other issues has fueled a small but vocal group of Hong Kong independence activists. Both had pledged allegiance to the “Hong Kong nation,” not the People’s Republic of China, while taking their oaths of office. In January, a China-born tycoon was wheeled out of a luxury Hong Kong hotel in a wheelchair and then turned up in police custody across the border — an incident that reminded many of the 2016 abduction and detention of five Hong Kong booksellers.

Source: Washington Post March 26, 2017 05:26 UTC