Nine more pan-democrat lawmakers sign up for delegation to Shanghai
Nine more now say they will travel to mainland to discuss political reform with senior officials
At least 12 pan-democratic lawmakers are set to meet mainland officials during a visit to Shanghai later this month, after nine more yesterday announced their intention to join the trip.
One of the nine, Civic Party leader Alan Leong Kah-kit, said it was his "responsibility, as a directly elected lawmaker, to reflect Hongkongers' demands on universal suffrage".
Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Secretary Raymond Tam Chi-yuen welcomed the pan-democrats' decision although he hesitated to call it a breakthrough.
Others announcing their intention to join included Dennis Kwok and Kwok Ka-ki of the Civic Party, Cyd Ho Sau-lan and Peter Cheung Kwok-che of the Labour Party, and Charles Mok and Kenneth Leung of Professional Commons. Education sector lawmaker Ip Kin-yuen and health services representative Dr Joseph Lee Kok-long also said they would sign up.
The trip, from April 12-13, will include a half-day meeting with Wang Guangya , head of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, and Li Fei , chairman of the National People's Congress' Basic Law Committee, to discuss plans for the 2017 chief executive election.
All 70 lawmakers were invited. But previously only three pan-democrats - the Civic Party's Ronny Tong Ka-wah, radical "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung of the League of Social Democrats and Frederick Fung Kin-kee of the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood - had agreed to go.
