http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/06/world/asia/hong-kong-election-china-basic-law.html 2016-09-05 14:44:08 Vote in Hong Kong Deepens a Thorn in China’s Side The election of six freethinking young legislators means that Beijing must deal with an indigenous movement elevated to positions of political power. === HONG KONG — In Canada, it is the Québécois. In Spain, the Catalans. In Britain, the Scots. Now, Six young people — none older than 40 — were elected to Hong Kong’s legislature on platforms that called for the city’s 7.3 million people to decide their own fate, a generation after Britain and China decided it for them by negotiating the handover of the These new legislators stand apart from more established and moderate pro-democracy lawmakers who for decades have tried to work with Beijing while pushing for expanded direct elections. Their success speaks to the cost in public opinion that Beijing has suffered for its steadfast refusal to compromise on popular demands for greater participation in the selection of Hong Kong’s leader next year. Outside Hong Kong, the Chinese authorities can deal with independence-minded minorities with an iron fist, suppressing movements in It remains to be seen how China’s central government will deal with these newly minted lawmakers, all of whom may be politically active for decades to come. The youngest is 23. A move by the Hong Kong election authorities to “This is nothing short of a strategic setback for Beijing,” said Zhang Baohui, a professor of political science at Lingnan University in Hong Kong. “These people are now officially inducted into the political framework, and they are going to give Beijing a hell of a time in the future.” For now, it is unclear how China will deal with the new political force, whose potency was indicated by But the rise of the indigenous movement looks like a direct result of how Beijing has overseen its relationship with Hong Kong. While the city has its own political and legal mechanisms and coexists with the mainland under a concept known as one country, two systems, China has considerable influence over some of Hong Kong’s most important aspects, a power that is codified in the city’s mini-constitution, known as the Basic Law. Such was the case in August 2014, when China’s own rubber-stamp legislature, the National People’s Congress, That decision led to the Before the protests, known as the “People have lost faith in one country, two systems, and through the election they expressed their disappointment,” one of the newly elected lawmakers, Sixtus Leung, 30, known as Baggio, said on Monday morning after learning of his victory. “I personally support Hong Kong independence.” The six young candidates collectively will make up less than 10 percent of the Legislative Council, and pro-Beijing parties are guaranteed a majority because almost half the seats represent industry and social groups, including travel agents and insurance brokers, that are dominated by pro-Beijing lawmakers. But Mr. Leung, who won election after a pro-independence candidate in his district, Edward Leung (who is not related), Edward Leung, who backed Baggio Leung in his campaign, said in an interview last week that this new flow of money could be used to fund materials, including books and articles, advocating independence. “The transfer of Hong Kong’s sovereignty to China was never authorized by the people, and neither was the constitutional Basic Law; it was a deal between Britain and China,” he said. “We were deprived of our right to self-determination. China’s rule over Hong Kong was illegitimate in the first place.” Past generations of pro-democracy lawmakers in China, known as pan-democrats, generally accepted that Hong Kong was part of China and sought to work within the confines of the Basic Law to open up the city’s government to more democratic participation. The new generation, about to draw generous government salaries, are a different breed. “There is no way Beijing can accommodate them, appease them,” Mr. Zhang said. “They cannot be bought by Beijing.”