Anson Chan and Martin Lee meet US Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi

Two senior pan-democrats yesterday met the Democratic Party leader of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, in Washington, where they are believed to have discussed Hong Kong's political development.

Anson Chan Fang On-sang, the former chief secretary and the convenor of pro-democracy group Hong Kong 2020, and Martin Lee Chu-ming, founding chairman of Hong Kong's Democratic Party, are halfway through a two-week visit to the United States and Canada.

Yesterday's meeting came after the pair attended talks organised by the Congressional-Executive Commission on China to discuss Hong Kong's prospects of democracy and press freedom.

Commission co-chairman Senator Sherrod Brown described the future of freedom and democracy in Hong Kong as being "under serious threat".

"China promised to let the people of Hong Kong freely elect their leaders... China is backtracking on these promises," Brown, a Democrat, said after the hour-long meeting.

"This commission has made it a priority to monitor and report on developments in Hong Kong, and we will continue to do so."

His fellow chairman, Republican representative Christopher Smith, expressed concern about the city's "steady erosion of press freedom", citing the knife attack on former Ming Pao editor-in-chief Kevin Lau Chun-to and the abrupt sacking of former Commercial Radio host Li Wei-ling.