Bad day for business

摘要

In days gone by, Hong Kong's pro-business Liberal Party argued that the territory's legislature should be returned by universal suffrage this year. After its showing in polls on September 7th the party may be glad that China ruled this out until at least 2020. Hong Kong's powerful tycoons have some rethinking to do.rnOver the years Hong Kong has been nudging up the number of directly elected seats in the 60-member Legislative Council, known as Legco. But since the previous elections in 2004, the proportion has remained at half. The rest are elected by "functional constituencies" of voters from business and professional groups. These days the wealthy tend to side with China, the sovereign power and chief source of business opportunity. China has inherited the British colonial tradition of granting Hong Kong's business elite enormous political privileges.