Does Beijing have the stomach for change?
Emily Lau hopes the historic lunch with the liaison office head can open the door to dialogue but, first, Beijing must stop interfering in local affairs and honour its pledge of universal suffrage for the city
The director of the central government's liaison office, Zhang Xiaoming, will meet all legislators, including those from the pro-democracy camp, at a lunch meeting hosted by Legislative Council president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing tomorrow. This is the first time mainland officials will attend a formal function held in the Legco complex.
However, as the saying goes, one swallow does not make a summer. The historic event does not necessarily mean a rapprochement between the pro-democracy camp and Beijing, but I hope relations between the two sides will normalise.
It is the Democratic Party's position to have rational dialogue with all members of society, but relations with the central government have become strained since the June 4 massacre in 1989. Many members of the party, including all former and current chairpersons and others in leadership positions, have been banned from visiting the mainland.
Mainland officials have never before attended any formal functions in the Legco building, because they did not want to have contact with pro-democracy legislators. Neither did the central government wish to give recognition to the constitutional status of political parties, so much so that they would not allow the chief executive to belong to a political party.
When the news of Zhang's visit to Legco broke, a retired senior government official called me to complain that the visit signalled "one country, two systems" is dead and mainland officials will unabashedly interfere in Hong Kong affairs. Such concern was echoed by others.
Such violent reaction to Zhang's visit is understandable. After the big march on July 1, 2003, which aborted the government's attempt to legislate on Article 23 of the Basic Law, Beijing lost confidence in then chief executive Tung Chee-hwa. Consequently, the central government sent many emissaries to Hong Kong to report on the situation here and interfere in our affairs.
For many years, officials from the liaison office have played a key role in Hong Kong elections, co-ordinating the strategy of the pro-Beijing camp. They have also intervened in Legco affairs. Demonstrators who went to the liaison office to present petitions to Beijing were given short shrift.