Democrats hoping for more visits to mainland
The democrats are hoping for more mainland visits to bolster cross-border ties, after mainland deputies were invited to visit Hong Kong.
Democratic Party chairman Lee Wing-tat predicted during a National Day reception yesterday that there would be more opportunities for legislators to visit Guangdong again.
Mr Lee was also hopeful the democrats could visit Beijing to directly express their views over future policy development.
'But these [visits] are not under our control; it depends on the central government,' he said.
Legislative Council president Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai on Friday said she had written to the Communist Party inviting mainland deputies to visit Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, 'Long hair' Leung Kwok-hung's T-shirt got him into trouble again when he was refused entry to the National Day reception at the Convention and Exhibition Centre.
It is the second such incident in a week after he was prohibited from wearing the same T-shirt - with the phrases 'Reverse the verdict on June 4' and 'Return power to the people' - to meet Guangdong party secretary Zhang Dejiang last Sunday on the delta trip.
The April Fifth Action Group legislator, who was demonstrating with 20 protesters demanding vindication of the June 4 movement outside the centre, was not allowed to join the reception.
But instead of putting on another T-shirt, as he did in Guangzhou, Mr Leung took off his T-shirt and threw his invitation and name tag to the floor.
'An official from the Home Affairs Department said I wasn't matching the dress code and he didn't let me enter the hall even though I had the invitation card,' Mr Leung said.
He argued the invitation card stated only that he could wear suits or a cultural costume, but did not say what he could not wear.
At the reception, Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen told more than 4,000 guests that the momentum gained from opening dialogue with mainland officials during last week's trip to the Pearl River Delta should be maintained.
'We should also view such co-operation from a broader perspective ... against the backdrop of the development of the pan-Pearl River Delta and our country,' he said.
'We will find that the scope and potential for co-operation are far wider than we imagined, that the people of Hong Kong can make an even bigger contribution to our country and that we can generate even greater prosperity.'
Earlier at a flag-raising ceremony in Golden Bauhinia Square, Mr Tsang was asked to have his picture taken with primary students.
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference vice-chairmen Henry Fok Ying-tung and Tung Chee-hwa, Ministry of Foreign Affairs commissioner in Hong Kong Yang Wenchang and Hong Kong ministers attended.
