MOSCOW (Sputnik) — At a swearing ceremony to kick off the election on October 12, two of the newly-elected pro-democracy lawmakers refused to declare their allegiance to Beijing and carried blue flags reading: "Hong Kong is not China," according to the newspaper.
The protests dubbed the Umbrella Revolution began in September 2014 in Hong Kong in response to the Chinese authorities' proposed reforms to the Hong Kong electoral system. Protesters demanded direct elections of the city's chief executive to replace the suggested two-step process.
China gained sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997 and over Macau in 1999. Both administrative regions were granted legal, economic and political autonomy from Beijing under the "one country, two systems" principle formulated by Chairman of the Central Advisory Commission of the Communist Party of China Deng Xiaoping in early 1980s.
