Beijing's top man in Hong Kong to meet pan-democrats for talks on electoral reform

Beijing's top man in Hong Kong will meet pan-democrat lawmakers this week and next to discuss electoral reform.

The pan-democrats hope to persuade the central government to present a flexible framework for reform later this month.

But leading advisers to Beijing said the meetings with central government liaison office director Zhang Xiaoming would be only symbolic.

The four meetings, which begin on Friday, will be chaired by Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and held at the government headquarters at Tamar. The other two officials overseeing reform for the 2017 chief executive election - Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung and Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Raymond Tam Chi-yuen - will also attend.

A meeting with Democratic Party lawmakers on Friday will be followed by ones next Monday to Wednesday with the Civic Party, Labour Party, Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood and independents. Radicals - including the League of Social Democrats, People's Power and lawmaker Raymond Wong Yuk-man - are not invited.

"We hope Zhang could pass on a clear message to Beijing not to close all the possibilities for further negotiation," Civic Party leader Alan Leong Kah-kit said.