Focus on border ties, legislators urged
Lawmakers should focus on cross-border economic co-operation during their fact-finding trip to Guangdong this month, although they are free to raise any issues, a senior mainland official said yesterday.
Li Gang , deputy director of the central government's liaison office in Hong Kong, said it was understandable that the lawmakers were invited to visit Guangdong as a first step because of its proximity and the close economic co-operation between the province and the city.
Some pro-democracy lawmakers, including those from the Democratic Party, plan to raise issues such as Hong Kong's constitutional development and the central government's verdict on the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
All 60 lawmakers have been invited to join the two-day trip organised by Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, which starts on September 25. Fifty-eight, including six members of the standing committee of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, have signed up. The Liberal Party's Miriam Lau Kin-yee and independent Chim Pui-chung will not take part.
A spokeswoman for the Chief Executive's Office said it had received applications for one-off home-return permits from 10 pro-democracy lawmakers.
