China's 12th National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee closed its 10th meeting with several decisions including one that will push forward the democratic process in Hong Kong.

The Standing Committee decided on allowing a general election for the position of Hong Kong's Chief Executive. It also included some changes in the process of forming the city's legislative body in 2016, according to state-run People's Daily Online.

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The new set of decisions will help boost Hong Kong's democratic development and bring about political reform.

The process of forming the legislative body is important to the political system of Hong Kong because it is bound to affect the economic interests of all the people. It will also help maintain prosperity, peace and stability in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), according to People's Daily Online.

Aside from economic implications, measures for putting together a legislative council involve the ties between the governments of SAR and mainland China. They also concern protecting China's sovereignty and development.

Based on Hong Kong's law and constitution, the central government has authority over SAR's decision-making and political development, the report said. But many have misunderstood the idea of "one country, two systems" since Britain returned Hong Kong to China.

Hong Kong's basic law and the NPC Standing Committee's decision stipulate that violent behavior is unlawful. Many people have broken the law when they conducted violent protests over the "double universal suffrage" issue.

The NPC Standing Committee stresses that it wants to push forward with "double universal suffrage" and lawfully implement the democratic process in Hong Kong. It also wants to ensure that the Chief Executive is a supporter of the central government, the report stated.

Since the NPC Standing Committee has clearly decided on the democratic process in Hong Kong, both the central and the SAR government should work together to make the "one-person one-vote" election in 2017 a success.

TagsChina-Hong Kong, democratic process, NPC, political reform, 2017 election, politics