Beijing's man in charge of Hong Kong affairs, Wang Guangya, had been prepared to meet all 60 lawmakers during his first official visit to the city last month, the Legislative Council president said.
Had Wang done so, it would have been the first meeting between the entire legislature and a head of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO).
'I conveyed the strong wish for all lawmakers to meet Wang,' Tsang Yok-sing said. 'I then heard Wang was willing to meet the whole Legco. But the plan was foiled.' Tsang said he did not know what had prevented such a meeting.
He made the disclosure in his review of the legislative year.
Wang, the new director of the HKMAO, visited the city for three days. The closest he got to a meeting with all legislators was a lunch with more than 40 of them - the chairmen and vice-chairmen of Legco's panels and committees. Lawmakers who attended complained they didn't have a chance to speak to Wang.
While radical pan-democrats have a track record of unruly behaviour, one of them, 'Long Hair' Leung Kwok-hung, was among the first to suggest a formal exchange with Wang - and had promised not to disrupt the occasion - Tsang said.
