CPPCC chief Yu Zhengsheng wants 'better exchanges' with Hong Kong

State leader Yu Zhengsheng yesterday pledged to "conduct thorough studies" on how to improve exchanges between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macau.

Speaking at the opening of the annual meeting of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), of which Yu is the chairman, he also repeated that Beijing would uphold the "one country and two systems" principle and respect the autonomy of Hong Kong and Macau.

While it is customary for the state leader to reiterate these principles on such occasions, this year Yu specially mentioned the need to "conduct thorough studies and improve the exchanges between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macau" - a message not mentioned before at the opening of the CPPCC.

National People's Congress chairman Zhang Dejiang will meet Hong Kong delegates to the CPPCC today, when he will likely touch on political reform in the city.

This year's conference comes at a sensitive time, as Hong Kong debates the process of choosing the city's next leader through universal suffrage.

A leading mainland observer of Hong Kong's legal affairs yesterday said that allowing registered voters to put forward their own candidate for the chief-executive election - the so-called public nomination - ran counter to the city's mini-constitution, the Basic Law.