A balancing act

There is growing concern about Hong Kong's political future. While we enjoy a greater degree of freedom than the mainland, with rights such as freedom of speech and press, I believe that Hong Kong's politics are being increasingly tied to Beijing.

Many people don't regard last May's chief executive election as democratic because citizens could not directly vote for a candidate. It has been promised that in 2017 we can directly vote for our leader. Yet, earlier this week, a senior mainland leader warned that a truly democratic election in Hong Kong could bring "subversive" forces into power.

This raises the issue of whether a screening mechanism could be set up to prevent candidates not acceptable to Beijing from running in 2017.

Hong Kong is linked to the mainland culturally, economically and in many other ways. We tread a fine line as we strive to strike a balance between being independent and part of China.