Hong Kong Votes After U-Turn on China Education Plan
Hong Kong residents voted for a new legislature on Sunday, a day after the territory’s Beijing-backed leader backed down on a plan to introduce a compulsory Chinese school curriculum after tens of thousands of people took to the streets.
Some 3.4 million of the city’s seven million people are eligible to directly elect just over half the seats in the 70-seat legislative council at a time when anger over perceived Chinese influence in the former British colony is growing.
On Saturday, Hong Kong’s pro-China chief executive Leung Chun-ying withdrew the plan for compulsory patriotism classes that protesters described as Chinese Communist Party-style propaganda aimed at indoctrinating children.
“It will, at least, contain the damage, and I’m sure it will relieve the pressure on the pro-establishment and the pro-Beijing candidates,” said political scientist Joseph Wong.