Pro-democracy lawmakers in Hong Kong raised yellow umbrellas and walked out of the annual policy address of Hong Kong’s chief executive Wednesday, calling for universal suffrage.

The lawmakers are calling for Hong Kong to allow any candidate to run for office in the city’s 2017 election, rather than require candidates to be pre-screened by a committee that opponents say is biased toward the Beijing government.

The pre-screening plan has been an object of contention since last year, when it inspired weeks of street protests in Hong Kong, a semiautonomous Chinese territory.

On Wednesday after the walkout, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying went ahead with his address after a short delay. He said “the rule of law is the foundation of Hong Kong” and reiterated support for the pre-screening plan for the city’s elections.

“As we pursue democracy, we should act in accordance with the law, or Hong Kong will degenerate into anarchy,” Leung, dressed in a dark suit and sky-blue tie, told city legislators in his speech.

Wednesday’s session echoed a similar one in parliament last week, when lawmakers walked during a speech by Chief Secretary Carrie Lam.

At its peak last year, the so-called Occupy protest movement attracted tens of thousands of demonstrators, presenting an unprecedented challenge to Beijing’s rule of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is a former British colony, but was returned to China in 1997. As a semiautonomous Chinese territory, its citizens still enjoy many freedoms not allowed on the mainland.

On December 31, Hong Kong police arrested 12 protesters as pro-democracy demonstrators returned to the the Mong Kok neighborhood that hundreds had occupied for more than two months.

Police said they used pepper spray and batons in overnight clashes and arrested demonstrators on charges ranging from assaulting a police officer to failing to produce proof of identity.

It was the first sizeable rally since the last protest camp was cleared out on December 15.

Leung must now try to boost his ratings among a population that knows that, under Beijing’s watchful gaze, he is unable to offer anything significant in the way of democratic reform.

At the same time he must perform a balancing act by healing divisions, maintaining strong ties with Communist Party rulers in China, on which Hong Kong’s economy overwhelmingly depends, and ensuring that the city’s economy – expected to grow about 2.2 percent this year – remains on a steady keel.

In a speech lacking major initiatives, Leung focused on bread-and-butter issues including housing – a perennially important topic in Hong Kong – and said he would seek to further boost the supply of land to improve affordability in one of the world’s most expensive property markets.

“Increasing and expediting land supply is the fundamental solution to resolve the land and housing problems of Hong Kong,” he said.

Leung, however, gave no specifics amid speculation the government may seek to open up parks to limited development, which would likely to infuriate environmentalists. 

Some material for this report came from Reuters.
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