A RECENT brainstorming session has highlighted divisions among Hongkong delegates to the National People's Congress regarding their role in the lead-up to 1997.
The 13 local delegates to the congress who showed up at fellow delegate Ms Liu Yiu-chu's flat failed to see eye-to-eye on what more they should and could do where mainland-Hongkong matters are concerned.
Ms Liu, a lawyer, has strongly advocated that the local congress contingent should take a more active role in transitional matters.
She went as far as calling for the setting up of a Hongkong office of the local congress members to better ''supervise'' the central government in regard to the territory's handover and to improve internal communication.
She insisted that as China's legislators, she and her colleagues were duty-bound to closely supervise the executive authorities to ensure they did well in bringing about a smooth transfer of power in 1997.
While few challenged the important role of local congress delegates in transitional matters, there were grave concerns about whether a localNPC branch would undermine British rule by creating another power base in Hongkong.