What more does China want from Hong Kong 20 years on from handover?

When Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor takes the oath as Hong Kong’s next chief executive presumably before President Xi Jinping on July 1, the city she governs will face a sovereign state that has signalled it wants a firmer say in how it is run.

That was the conclusion many came to when they heard Zhang Dejiang, the third highest-ranking state leader and head of the Communist Party’s coordination group on Hong Kong affairs, giving a tough prescription last week for the way forward. It was immediately read as Beijing’s sternest directive to Hong Kong, telling its political leaders, opposition camp and residents at large what more the central government could, and should, do in order to keep a tighter rein on the city’s affairs.

Zhang’s case for doing so looks like this. As Hongkongers have been deemed to be growing increasingly localist and opposed to Beijing’s rule, as shown during the pro-democracy Occupy campaign in 2014, it is time for Beijing to make clear that China’s sovereignty over the city is “comprehensive”.