EDITORIAL
Now Hong Kong must play Beijing's game

China this week announced an "interpretation" that fundamentally alters the Basic Law under which it governs Hong Kong.

What's not yet clear is whether this clear violation of principle — that the former British colony is to enjoy substantial autonomy for 50 years from its 1997 handover by the British — will in practice diminish hopes for increasing democracy.

The change in Beijing's approach is clear from two statements:

• "The future development of Hong Kong's democracy is a matter entirely within Hong Kong's autonomy. The central government will not intervene," a central government figure said in 1993, when Britain and China negotiated the Basic Law.

• "The central authorities have the right of decision throughout the process of the development of the political structure in Hong Kong," a central government official said this week.

Angered opposition parties have scheduled a protest march for Sunday afternoon, and the Bush administration has expressed its displeasure, adding to political tensions between Washington and Beijing that already include trade and currency issues, human rights abuses and Taiwan.

It was the huge street demonstrations in Hong Kong last year, in objection to a proposed security law, that apparently moved Beijing to increase its control over Hong Kong's path, as envisioned in the Basic Law, toward direct election of its chief executive and Legislative Council.

Beijing now has veto power over each end of Hong Kong's reform process. It can reject Hong Kong's assertion of a need for change as groundless, ending the process right there.

If it agrees there's a need, then Hong Kong's Legislative Council must pass revisions crafted by the chief executive by a two-thirds majority. Again, Beijing exercises veto power over that product.

This assertion of added veto power raises uncomfortable questions about the future of "one country, two systems." Beijing wants to make that future look rosy, as an enticement to the Taiwanese. But it also is frightened that direct suffrage will result in new leaders in Hong Kong of the sort who led a half-million demonstrators into the streets last July.

There is a battle for minds in Beijing between growing confidence backed by a booming economy against an ancient fear of chaos.

The hope is that Beijing's leaders can overcome their horror of individual freedoms leading to disorder, instead using Hong Kong as the test kitchen for tomorrow's democratic China.