A government official yesterday accused pan-democrats of changing their demands in the negotiation process for constitutional reform.
Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Stephen Lam Sui-lung also called on lawmakers to stop doubting central government officials' remarks on Hong Kong's political development. His comments came two days after the deputy secretary general of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, Qiao Xiaoyang , offered his definition of universal suffrage.
Lam was responding to legislators' comments on reform in a motion debate. Listing a universal suffrage timetable, the abolition of appointed seats on district councils and the election of district council-sector lawmakers through a proportional representation system as three demands made by pan-democrats when they voted on the 2005 package, Lam said the government had already offered what the camp had asked for in the present proposal and urged it to accept it.
'I really have the feeling and observation that at different points of time, pan-democrats ask for different things ... In discussions with the pan-democratic camp, sometimes some people suddenly lift the asking price,' he said.
While Democratic Party chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan and his allies doubted Qiao's definition of universal suffrage, Lam hit back by saying it was the party which asked Beijing to explain the matter.
'Don't just doubt the credibility whenever a central government representative speaks,' the minister told pan-democrats.