Members of a United States panel on religious freedom arrived in Hong Kong last night for a five-day fact-finding tour of the city and mainland.
They will meet religious, human rights and political leaders.
The visit, which the central government has called 'inappropriate', comes after a five-month row between the US Commission on International Religious Freedom and mainland religious authorities, which led to two earlier visits to Beijing being cancelled.
The commission is expected to be briefed by leading figures in the religious, human rights, legal and political fields, including Catholic Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, but observers said the trip was unlikely to do much. 'I don't think they can achieve much on such a trip except making the point that they have come to Hong Kong,' said one person scheduled to meet the delegation. 'It is only a protest to Beijing.'
The commission, which advises the US government on religious affairs, has termed the trip by the four-member delegation as 'low-profile, low-key'.
It will prepare for a future trip to the mainland. Since July, the commission has scrapped two planned trips to the mainland after claiming that Beijing forced it to drop Hong Kong from its itinerary on one occasion and barred it from meeting Hong Kong contacts on another.