The Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Issues Relating to the Selection of the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region by Universal Suffrage and on the Method for Forming the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in the Year 2016 (Chinese: 全國人民代表大會常務委員會關於香港特別行政區行政長官普選問題和2016年立法會產生辦法的決定), commonly known as the 31 August Decision (Chinese: 八三一決定; lit.
'8 31 decision'), is a decision made by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC), the national legislative body of the People's Republic of China (PRC) on 31 August 2014 which set limits for the 2017 Chief Executive election and 2016 Legislative Council election in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).
[1] The decision was deemed by the pro-democracy activists as a violation of the principle of free and fair election and led to the large-scale occupation protests which was internationally known as "Umbrella Revolution".
According to the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) in 2007, the 2017 Chief Executive election "may be implemented by the method of universal suffrage".
"[5] On 22 November 2013, Li Fei, Qiao's successor as NPCSC Law Committee chairman, stated that "the Chief Executive is accountable to the central government as well as Hong Kong.
On 31 August 2014, the Tenth Session of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress adopted the Decision on selecting method of the 2017 Chief Executive and 2016 Legislative Council elections: The Decision states that "the principle that the Chief Executive has to be a person who loves the country and loves Hong Kong must be upheld."
The selecting method of the Chief Executive has to be framed institutionally to maintain long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and uphold the sovereignty, security and development interests of the country.
"[8] The Occupy Central with Love and Peace movement who had vowed to launch a massive civil obedience occupation at the city centre of Central, Hong Kong if the constitutional reform proposals did not reach the international standard of free and fair election slammed Beijing's decision as a move that stifles democracy and blocks people with different political views from running for office.
Occupy Central co-founder Benny Tai told the crowd, "our hope is that people gathered here will be dauntless civil resisters.
On 31 May 2015, three top Beijing officials, Basic Law Committee chairman Li Fei, Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office director Wang Guangya and Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong director Zhang Xiaoming met with members of the Legislative Council in Shenzhen including pan-democracy legislators.
Li also stressed that the framework set down on 31 August would govern the election of Hong Kong's leader by universal suffrage in 2017 and onwards.