China's rocky relationship with Hong Kong: 10 key moments

To help understand how China's relationship with Hong Kong has changed through its evolution from British rule to special administrative region, here are 10 key moments:

China says no to popular elections in Hong Kong - 2004

In a controversial announcement quickly denounced by the governments of both the United States and Britain, Chinese leaders said they would not permit popular elections of the next chief executive for the island in 2007. They also said the general public would not be allowed to select more than half of the available seats in the Legislative Council in elections slated for 2008.

Beijing’s decision seemed to contradict Basic Law, which would allow for such wide enfranchisement; party leaders cite the island’s youthful electoral history as reasoning behind the decision. Democratic advocated groups in Hong Kong promise widespread protests.

After a large July demonstration held on the seventh anniversary of the transition draws hundreds of thousands of pro-democracy protesters, Chief Executive Tung confirmed that according to Basic Law, universal suffrage is a long-term goal.

In September elections, 30 members of the council were directly elected using geographical constituencies, with another 30 elected though functional constituencies, some of which were unopposed races.  

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