MARTIN Lee ran into slight visa problems when he tried to visit Beijing in August for the LawAsia conference.
As a Basic Law-burning democratic firebrand, Martin got given short shrift by the authorities when he attempted to get into the Middle Kingdom.
But then, visa problems are not restricted to Hong Kong politicians.
On Tuesday, the City University hosted the grand sounding 'International Conference on China's Economic Reform and Opening' at which Liu Hongru, ex-chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and Wei Jie, a member of economic supremo Zhu Rongji's high-level think-tank, were supposed to speak.
Neither gentleman was able to make it along to the conference, however and Mr Liu belatedly gave his speech last night - with visa problems the cause of the delay.
Of course, we are assured that postal delays and the usual bureaucratic bumblings common to all government were the cause of the delay.