Chinese leaders endorsed a sweeping overhaul of Hong Kong's electoral system Tuesday, slashing its number of directly elected seats and ensuring a majority of the city's lawmakers will be selected by a reliably pro-Beijing committee.

The new measures, which bypassed Hong Kong's legislature and were imposed directly by Beijing, are the latest move aimed at quashing the city's democracy movement after huge protests.

Chinese state media said the changes to Hong Kong's Basic Law -- the mini-charter that gifted the city special freedoms after its handover by Britain in 1997 -- were agreed by China's top decision-making body after "President Xi Jinping signed presidential orders to promulgate the amended annexes".

Under the new measures anyone hoping to enter Hong Kong's political scene will need to be vetted by a powerful committee -- and the number of directly elected seats will be slashed from half to less than a quarter.

"The National Security Committee and the National Security Police will provide reports on every single candidate to assist the vetting by the qualification review committee," Tam Yiu-chung, Hong Kong's sole delegate on China's rubber-stamp parliament, told AFP.

Under the new law, Hong Kong's legislature will be expanded from 70 to 90 seats.

Only 20 of those seats will now be directly elected, down from 35. The majority -- 40 -- will be chosen by a reliably pro-Beijing committee.

The remaining 30 will be chosen by "functional constituencies" -- bodies representing certain industries and special interest groups that have also been historically loyal to Beijing.

The move appears "to run against the spirit of having, free, fair and competitive elections," Chong Ja Ian, an associate professor on politics from the National University of Singapore, told AFP.

"Certainly, giving a police force the power to oversee who can stand for elections is not seen in systems usually deemed democratic in a meaningful sense," he added.

- 'Combination of punches' -

The sweeping changes were approved 167-0 during China's annual NPC meeting around two weeks ago.

That prompted global outrage, with Britain announcing China is no longer compliant with Hong Kong's joint declaration which ahd guaranteed freedoms until at least 2047 and the US railing at the stifling of democracy.

China's leaders have acted decisively to dismantle Hong Kong's limited democratic pillars after massive protests in 2019, imposing a national security law that has been weaponised against the financial hub's democracy movement.

Dozens of campaigners have been prosecuted or jailed, smothering protests in a city that had enjoyed greater political freedoms than the authoritarian mainland under the "One country, two systems" arrangement.

Beijing has trumpeted the electoral reform as the second of a "combination of punches" to quell unrest in the southern city, alongside the blanket security law.

The withering of Hong Kong's democratic freedoms is one of the key fronts opening up between the West and China -- which insists the territory is an internal affair.

But the crackdown in Hong Kong, a once-freewheeling financial hub home to hundreds of thousands of expatriate workers, has sent a shudder across the global community.

US President Joe Biden sees the coralling of the city's freedoms as part of a wider China-led assault on democracy and rights, including the treatment of Muslim minorities in the northwestern Xinjiang region.

How China's plan to neuter Hong Kong opposition works
Hong Kong (AFP) March 30, 2021 - China's decision to overhaul Hong Kong's already limited election system is the latest measure aimed at snuffing out opposition to Beijing's rule after huge democracy protests swept the city.

Here's what the new measures are and what impact they will have:

One country, two systems

The "reforms" unveiled on Tuesday are the most dramatic overhaul of Hong Kong's political system since the city was handed back to China by Britain in 1997.

Under a model dubbed "one country, two systems" China promised Hong Kong could keep certain freedoms and a level of legislative autonomy for 50 years.

The city was never a democracy -- even though its Beijing approved mini-constitution states that "universal suffrage" is an ultimate goal.

Instead, a carefully calibrated political system was created to ensure Beijing maintained control while maintaining a veneer of choice that allowed opposition voices to exist.

That system is now gone.

Vetting committee

Sitting on top of everything will be a new powerful committee that will vet anyone standing for political office.

Those deemed to be a national security threat or not adequately patriotic enough will be barred from standing for election or appointment.

Those who are rejected will not be able to challenge the decision in court.

Tam Yiu-Chung, Hong Kong's sole delegate on the Chinese body that passed the new law, revealed that the vetting committee will be created by authorities in Hong Kong and the city's new national security apparatus would have a say in who gets approved.

Even before this new law, barring Hong Kongers from political office because of their political views has become more commonplace in recent years.

But the new system dramatically expands the ideological vetting.

Alvin Cheung, a legal scholar at New York University's U.S.-Asia Law Institute, said China's leaders have never really trusted Hong Kongers to vote the right way.

"From Beijing's perspective, the elimination of meaningful political participation is necessary," he told AFP.

Directly elected seats slashed

Under the old system, Hong Kong's legislature had 70 seats, half of which were directly elected.

The rest were chosen by "functional constituencies" representing key industries and special interest groups that were largely pro-Beijing.

The city's "chief executive" leader, meanwhile, was chosen by a reliably 1,200-strong pro-Beijing panel known as the Election Committee.

The new reforms expand the legislature's seats to 90.

Only 20 will be directly elected, down from 35.

The majority -- 40 -- will be chosen by the Election Committee (itself expanded to 1,500 members) and the remaining 30 will be chosen by the functional constituencies.

The result is a chamber where directly elected voices are slashed from half the seats, to less than a quarter.

"Pro-democracy groups are likely to have a very marginalised voice in the legislature, if even that," Chong Ja Ian, an associate professor on politics from the National University of Singapore, told AFP.

But the reforms don't stop there.

Imposed from above

Under the "one country, two systems" arrangement, Hong Kong is supposed to make its own laws but Beijing has tired of using the city's legislature.

Much like last year's national security law, the election reforms passed on Tuesday were written directly in Beijing, bypassing Hong Kong's legislature entirely.

At the time the law was passed on Tuesday morning, Hong Kong's 7.5 million people still had no idea what it contained.

China has defended this method of legislating Hong Kong directly as necessary to counter national security threats and ensure only "staunch patriots" rule the city.

Hong Kong's legislature was a notoriously fractious place.

Relegated to a minority, Hong Kong's pro-democracy politicians tended to use filibustering and other procedural tactics to delay legislation.

Late last year, opposition politicians quit en masse after four of the colleagues were barred for being deemed national security threats.

Since then, government bills have breezed through unhindered by messy debates and questioning.

The new system is aimed at ensuring that smooth sailing continues.

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