By controlling who gets on the ballot, Beijing can keep its promise of universal suffrage without risking that voters might actually select someone it considers unsatisfactory. That might seem unlikely, as Hong Kong remains predominantly a practical place where making money is the key fixation, but China’s communists evidently don’t want to take any risks. In finding a novel way to fix the vote, however, it also succeeds in aggravating the deep-seated sense in Hong Kong that Beijing can’t be trusted, no matter how many treaties it signs or promises it makes.
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