Chief executive candidate Yang Ti Liang ran into trouble with a language problem when he met the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong yesterday.
At the centre of a controversy were earlier remarks over the composition of the future Executive Committee - the equivalent of the existing Executive Council.
Alliance chairman Tsang Yok-sing said some members were angered by Mr Yang's comment that people with inadequate English could be excluded.
'Many members present today find it difficult to accept English will be the main language in the Executive Committee after the establishment of the Special Administrative Region,' he said.
He said Mr Yang had explained he was looking at the question from a technical point of view rather than trying to exclude certain people from the Executive Committee.
Mr Tsang said it might be easier to use Chinese in meetings of the Executive Committee than it was to use the language in the Hong Kong courts.