Moderate pan-democrat to join anniversary party

A moderate pan-democrat has been invited to join celebrations in Beijing marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, but most core democrats have been left off the guest list.

Frederick Fung Kin-kee, a lawmaker from the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood, said he received the invitation from the director of the Chief Executive's Office, Raymond Tam Chi-yuen, last night.

It remains unclear whether he is the only pan-democrat who has been invited to join the delegation. Fung will join a 250-strong delegation led by Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen on a three-day trip to the capital starting on Wednesday.

The delegation will attend a banquet hosted by President Hu Jintao that day and the military review ceremony the following day.

Fung has criticised the major pan-democratic parties for putting forward proposals before consulting others for an en-masse resignation of lawmakers in protest at the government's refusal to outline the road map for electing the chief executive by universal suffrage in 2017.

Under the plan, one lawmaker from each of the five geographical constituencies would resign and trigger by-elections, which would precede the resignation of all 23 pan-democrats if the government failed to come up with a genuine constitutional reform plan for 2012.