From The Christian Science Monitor:
Hong Kong, often seen as a bellwether for democracy’s prospects in China, opened a potentially decisive chapter in its history Sunday, as the winner of elections to the territory’s top job pledged new steps to open up the territory’s backroom politics.
Winning Sunday’s elections for Hong Kong’s chief executive was the easy part for Donald Tsang, Beijing’s anointed candidate, who trounced his pro-democracy opponent in the elite committee that chooses the city’s top official.
Now he will have to navigate the choppy waters between the citizens he rules and represents in Hong Kong, who overwhelmingly want democratic elections for his job in five years, and his political masters in Beijing, who are wary of free votes.[Full Text]
– See also Asia Sentinel’s look at the Hong Kong media’s reaction to the elections:
Alas. The local media showed itself only too willing to submit to having their hands tied and mouths taped shut. Tsang’s boards may not have succeeded in keeping the protesters quiet. But the local news outlets got the message not to spoil the party.
There were no images of protesters in the region’s largest English-language newspaper, the South China Morning Post, which was doubly mystifying since it had a picture of an aesthetically disadvantaged teen with grubby hands and yellow nails casting a mock ballot – a perfect second picture to correspond with the story. [Full text]
