PRO-BEIJING HK LAWMAKERS BARE MOVES

After the mass resignation of pro-democracy lawmakers in Hong Kong’s legislature, pro-Beijing legislators quickly announced that they would make full use of their new dominance to advance a slew of priorities that otherwise would have met fierce resistance, according to the Briefing of the New York Times.

Regina Ip, a pro-Beijing lawmaker, said that she looked forward to expanding voting rights in city elections to Hong Kongers who live in mainland China and to promoting changes to the high school curriculum, which many establishment figures blame for turning young people against the government.

Some politicians seemed almost gleeful. Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, said that the government felt “all the more excited” that its bills could be passed efficiently. The Legislative Council had been one of the last bastions of formalized, legal dissent in the city.

Here’s a look at key moments in the showdown between pro-democratic forces and the Beijing-backed authorities who have chipped away at Hong Kong’s freedoms, including the move that prompted the mass resignation: the ejection of four pro-democracy lawmakers from the legislature on Wednesday after Beijing gave the Hong Kong authorities broad power to remove those deemed insufficiently loyal to China.

The developments have left the opposition in Hong Kong almost totally gutted, our correspondents write. It is unclear what avenues of resistance remain, as Beijing exerts ever more control over the Chinese territory.