NEWSWEEK: Why does the December by-election deserve so much attention? It comes at a time when there’s more of a feeling among the community that things are going wrong. There’s a gap between rich and poor, and we’re in the midst of consultations on democratic reform. The government’s Green Paper has a bewildering range of options; it is little wonder people are not interested. The government will say people are only interested in the economy. But survey after survey has demonstrated that that is just not true. For me, this is the right time. I want to rekindle hope in the people of Hong Kong and make the case that democracy concerns all of us, not just this generation but future generations.

You ’ ve criticized " self-styled guardians " of the basic law for blocking democracy. Who are they and what is their agenda? For want of better words, they are people in the so-called Beijing camp. When logic and reason fail to persuade, their usual ploy is to fall back on this argument about whether you’re a patriot or sufficiently nationalistic. That’s what they do.

How much political reform has occurred since the 1997 handover? If anything. we are going backward. It wasn’t long ago that all the political parties agreed Hong Kong was ready for universal suffrage in 2007–08. And then, after Beijing made known its views, [pro-Beijing parties] changed their tune by saying 2012. Now there is further slippage.

What is the biggest challenge ahead? The growing income disparity. More and more people seem to be falling to the very bottom, from where they see no means of escaping. It is unlike in the 1950s and ’60s, when most people assumed that if you just worked hard you could move up the social ladder. In terms of social stability, it’s not a good phenomenon.

The current system can ’ t address that? Universal suffrage is not an end in itself but an essential step to secure good, transparent and accountable governance. Under the basic law there seems to be the expectation for a strong, executive-led government, yet we have a chief executive who has no popular mandate.

Some people argue that Hong Kong is the logical laboratory for crafting reforms that might work on the mainland. Do you agree? Hong Kong people are very pragmatic. Even in the recession starting in 1997, nobody was agitating for abandonment of the capitalist system for a welfare state. Where else would you find half a million people taking to the streets [as Hong Kong people did in 2003] without so much as a single scuffle with the police? So why are [leaders in China] so afraid? I think they should use Hong Kong as a testing ground for experimenting with the introduction of democracy. At this stage of the mainland’s development they still need to concentrate on some very basic issues before they talk about democracy. China is a vast country facing very serious challenges, and it needs stability. But the system we currently have [in Hong Kong] is unstable. So if you are concerned with stability here you should be introducing reforms while the going is good. We’ve had three years of very strong economic growth. But if the government continues to drag its feet, the next time there is a difficult economy the groundswell of disillusionment will be even greater.

Is China ’ s senior leadership sympathetic to that argument? I don’t believe that the view within the leadership hierarchy is monolithic. I sometimes meet people who are very open-minded, who understand that Hong Kong developed at a very different pace. Under British rule, Hong Kong for decades enjoyed the rights and freedoms associated with a full-fledged democracy.

The pro-Beijing parties reject the notion that Hong Kong is a model. Of course they do. It’s not the politically correct thing to say.

But you can see why China ’ s leaders might view Hong Kong ’ s democratization as a threat to Communist Party rule. I know there is this concern. But Deng Xiaoping had the vision. He is the architect of “one country, two systems,” and he promised Hong Kong universal suffrage because he must have believed in his heart of hearts that it was the way forward. So why has all this changed?