Pan-democrat Charles Mok hints at compromise on 2017 reform package - then retracts comments a few hours later

The hothouse atmosphere of post-Occupy Hong Kong politics was brought into sharp focus yesterday when a moderate pan-democrat was forced to retract a statement offering the possibility of a compromise over political reform within hours of making it.

Information technology lawmaker Charles Mok told TVB early yesterday that his allies in the pan-democrat camp should back Beijing's political reform package if they get assurances from the government that genuine universal suffrage would be delivered in the next Legislative Council elections in 2020.

He also said they should lend their support if the government promised to abolish all functional constituency seats in the 2020 Legislative Council election - though Mok himself was elected through such a constituency.

"The 2017 reform package is indeed a 'rotten orange'," he said in the interview with TVB. "If there is a chance we can get a 'good orange' - genuine universal suffrage for the 2020 Legco election - it is something substantial we [pan-democrats] should consider."

Following similar remarks from Civic Party lawmaker Ronny Tong Ka-wah, Mok's words sparked an immediate reaction, questioning whether he was setting terms of a compromise.

However, within hours Mok retracted the remarks and blamed "assumptions'' made by the interviewer.