There was no timeframe in the joint declaration except that “one country, two systems" would last for only 50 years.
At first, I thought it would take place immediately, because the joint declaration was signed in 1984 to take effect in 1997. I thought we could already set in place a democratically elected legislature during that time, or at least have everything ready. However, the basic law says that during the first 10 years after the handover, we may not yet have universal suffrage, but that after 10 years we may. I thought that meant we would only wait for 10 out of the 50 years, but already, it has been postponed until 2017. Even if it comes about, it's already 20 years later.