Mainland legal experts attended a seminar in the capital last month to mark the 16th anniversary of the promulgation of the Basic Law - yet no one from Hong Kong was there. In fact, it is believed that the government did not even know the seminar would take place on April 27.
It was organised by an office under the State Council responsible for studying developments in Hong Kong and Macau. One speaker, Wang Zhenmin , the deputy dean of Tsinghua University's law school and a member of the Basic Law Committee, listed a number of conditions which he said should be met before Hong Kong could have universal suffrage.
The first is that there must be a consensus in Hong Kong, and the decision to hold such elections must be approved by Beijing.
Plans were also put forward to avoid another scenario where the Legislative Council rejects proposals by Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen - as happened with the political-reform package last December. Lian Xisheng , who worked for the secretariat of the Basic Law Drafting Committee in the 1980s, suggested amending the Basic Law annex to allow a referendum to be held if the chief executive's proposals were rejected by Legco again.
The Beijing seminar came as something of a bombshell as, following the defeat of his reform proposals, Mr Tsang had said that he would focus on economic issues.
It is unclear why Beijing did not invite Hong Kong representatives. But, no matter how one interprets the snub, it should set alarm bells ringing. How- ever, instead of publicising and analysing this disturbing development, the media played it down. Most Chinese-language newspapers buried the story inside. RTHK, which professes to be our public-service broadcaster, ignored the event in its radio news bulletins.
The fact that certain people in the capital have expressed concern about the pace of democratic reforms in Hong Kong should not be brushed under the carpet. Furthermore, Beijing should be reminded to respect Hong Kong's 'high degree of autonomy' under the concept of 'one country, two systems'.