New | No compromises on Hong Kong political reform, vows top Beijing official
Beijing will not compromise over political reform despite pan-democrats’ opposition to the plan, a senior official on Hong Kong affairs is said to have vowed as he met a delegation from the city.
Beijing will not make any concessions over Hong Kong's electoral reform that deviate from its own principles, a key mainland official in charge of the city's affairs says.
Wang Guangya , director of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, was seen as putting his foot down on attempts to sidestep a framework Beijing laid down in August last year for the city's 2017 chief executive election.
Wang spoke at a meeting in the capital with a 35-strong delegation from the Beijing-friendly New Territories Association of Societies, ahead of the Hong Kong government's announcement tomorrow of a concrete proposal on how to conduct the poll.
"He said the central government would strongly uphold its bottom line [on political reform] and would not make any concession [not based on its] principles," association chairman Brave Chan Yung said after the meeting.
Chan said the "principles" Wang referred to were legal conditions stipulated under the Basic Law and by the National People's Congress Standing Committee.
The Standing Committee ruled that only two or three hopefuls who secured majority support from a 1,200-strong nomination committee could run for the city's top job.
All 27 pan-democratic lawmakers have pledged to veto any reform plan that is based on Beijing's decision.
Vice-President Li Yuanchao , who also met the association, publicly urged different sectors in the city to resolve the reform debate in a "proactive, rational and pragmatic manner".
"It is the central government's genuine hope - and also common aspiration of most Hongkongers - to implement universal suffrage in 2017," Li said.
Lawmaker Starry Lee Wai-king, an honorary adviser to the association and the newly elected chairwoman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, called on the two Beijing officials to meet lawmakers as the Legislative Council is set to scrutinise the government's reform package. Lee quoted the vice-president as saying he would seriously consider her suggestion.
In Hong Kong, both the government and the pan-democrats are preparing campaigns to win public support for their stances.
But Legco president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing doubted if a publicity war was really a way out for the city.
Tsang urged the central and local governments to hold discussions with the pro-Beijing and pan-democratic camps in a bid to reach a consensus.
Meanwhile, pollsters at the University of Hong Kong, Chinese University and Polytechnic University will conduct a joint rolling survey to canvass attitudes towards the proposal, which will start on Thursday.
