Beijing official scraps Hong Kong trip after pan-democrats vow to veto reform proposal

A much-anticipated visit by a mainland official to Hong Kong next month is now off the table after he learned that 27 pan-democrats had signed a joint statement vowing to vote down the government's proposals for electoral reform.

The trip by Basic Law Committee chairman Li Fei was expected to provide an opportunity for talks on political reform with pan-democrats for the first time since the Occupy protests ended in December.

A Hong Kong official said yesterday that Li had made the decision in the morning, a day after the pan-democrats issued their joint statement.

"It's hard to say at this stage if Li Fei or other mainland officials will visit Hong Kong later to meet pan-democrats," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A spokesman for the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau said later that the government had been working hard on lining up meetings between the central government and different political parties, "but no arrangements can be announced yet".

On Monday, Civic Party lawmaker Ronny Tong Ka-wah told the media that local officials had told him that Beijing officials such as Li might visit next month for a Basic Law anniversary event.

Tong said yesterday he signed the joint statement "to avoid speculation" that he would change his mind on the plan to vote down the reform, even though he did not entirely agree with the statement's content. He said he hoped mainland officials would visit on a later occasion.