New | Government ready for talks with students in bid to end deadlock, says CY Leung
Leung stresses protesters’ demands will not be met but says he is willing to speak about electoral reform within Beijing’s framework
Negotiations to bring an end to protests that have crippled parts of the city could start next week after Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said the government is willing to hold talks with student leaders of the pro-democracy movement.
Middlemen have been shuttling messages between the two camps since the government cancelled talks last Thursday when the Federation of Students urged more people to join the mass sit-in to increase pressure for their demands to be met.
Leung said in a press conference this afternoon that he understands students’ demand for an open nomination process for the chief executive election in 2017 but reiterated his stance that the demand could not be met because it does not sit within the framework of the Basic Law and the National People’s Congress’ decision on electoral reform.
However, Leung said the government is willing to speak to students about what can be done within the framework laid down by Beijing. “Politics is the art of the possible,” he said.
Leung said he hopes to make the students understand that Beijing’s decision cannot be retracted. He said he wants to explore with the students what else they can do together within the limit of the Basic Law and the NPC’s decision.
He stressed that the Sino-British Joint Declaration does not contain the words “universal suffrage”. The wording of the declaration, signed in 1984, reads: “The chief executive will be appointed by the Central People’s Government on the basis of the results of elections or consultations to be held locally.”