Chinese officials and Special Administrative Region office bearers have been sending so many conflicting political messages to Hong Kong that even the least sceptical among the audience must have been felt perplexed, if not perturbed.
Vice-Premier and Foreign Minister Qian Qichen, for instance, was quoted last Friday as having encouraged the president of the provisional legislature, Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai, to be 'bold and innovative' in carrying out the work of the interim law-making body.
The press covering the meeting in Beijing was not given a chance to ask him to elaborate on what kind of daring and imaginative care-taking assembly for the territory he had in mind. Mr Qian, who doubles as the Preparatory Committee's director, was instrumental in pushing through the idea to replace the Legislative Council elected in 1995 with a provisional legislature.
In a bid to ease opposition, the Preparatory Committee had assured Hong Kong that the provisional assembly's role would be kept to a minimum.
The body was supposed to enact only urgent and indispensable laws to prevent a so-called legal vacuum, following the change of sovereignty on July 1.
Mr Qian said the provisional legislature would not become a second power centre, while the institutions under British administration are still in force before the July handover.
