Vice-Premier Qian Qichen has cautioned against any rapid moves towards a directly elected legislature or chief executive after 2007, when the Basic Law allows a review of the electoral system.
Mr Qian made it clear in an interview with the South China Morning Post that he opposed any major changes to Hong Kong's system of government.
'The past practices have shown that the model based on functional constituency elections is an effective way to ensure that people in various walks of life can have balanced participation in political life,' he said. 'As a result this should be kept intact. Other systems that conform to Hong Kong's characteristics should also be retained.'
The Basic Law allows the method of election to the legislature and the post of SAR chief executive to be changed with the backing of two-thirds of the members of the legislature and the consent of the chief executive.
These changes have only to be reported to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress; the central Government technically has no veto power.
But Mr Qian's comments will be likely to undermine prospects of an acceleration towards a directly elected legislature and chief executive after 2007.
He stressed that Hong Kong's political development could not be divorced from that of the mainland. 'Hong Kong is a commercial city and one of our country's special administrative regions. This determines that it cannot copy the political system of another country . . . In my view it should design its own path for development according to its actual conditions and gradually proceed.'
