The Alliance for Universal Suffrage wants a dialogue with Beijing. The message was channelled to the central government by Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, who said mainland authorities had acknowledged receipt of it but showed no other response.
What does the alliance - a group of moderate pan-democrats - want to achieve by establishing a dialogue with Beijing? If it wants to explain its position to the mainland officials responsible for Hong Kong affairs, the latter already have a highly sophisticated understanding of the Hong Kong political scene, including the orientations of all pro-democracy groups and their leaders.
If the alliance's views have already been declared and made known to the local community, mainland officials must have studied them. If the alliance wants to convey certain information to the central officials but not to Hongkongers, then it may have good reasons to ask for a dialogue with Beijing. On the other hand, mainland authorities have ample options for conveying messages to Hongkongers.
Seeking Beijing's recognition of its status may well be a good reason for establishing a dialogue. But this, precisely, is one of the important reasons why the central government has been refusing an open dialogue with the local pro-democracy movement since the Tiananmen Square incident. From a realpolitik perspective, any decision on strategy has its cost-benefit analysis. If the alliance asks Beijing to recognise its status, what has it to offer in return to the mainland authorities?
In the initial years after Hong Kong's return to the motherland, Beijing upheld its neutrality principle and declined to have any exchanges with any of the city's political parties. After the massive protest rally on July 1, 2003, the mainland authorities increased their participation in local politics. Top leaders like former vice-president Zeng Qinghong received Hong Kong's pro-Beijing political parties in a high-profile manner; later, even Shanghai and Guangdong leaders met delegations from the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong. The team under Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen has also said it would maintain a distinction between those close to, and distant from, the administration.
Meanwhile, Beijing's intention to divide and rule is obvious: some in the local pro-democracy movement are allowed to visit the mainland and some are not. Even legislators in the Democratic Party are divided into these two categories.