China has unilaterally asserted a new “interpretation” of Hong Kong’s constitution:
China claimed the right yesterday to veto any form of democratic development in Hong Kong in its toughest assertion of power over the territory since its handover from Britain seven years ago. China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress, ruled that only Beijing could reform the former British colony’s electoral system….Hong Kong opposition figures said the ruling amounted to an illegal amendment of the basic law, which was agreed by Beijing and London before the 1997 handover. [UK Telegraph]