Another olive branch? Hong Kong lawmakers may be invited to visit Shenzhen, says mainland Chinese source
The trip could take place as early as next month, although one pan-democrat says it is better to wait until after Legislative Council elections
Authorities across the border are working on a short trip to Shenzhen for Hong Kong lawmakers, according to a mainland source, following the groundbreaking meeting between four pan-democrats and visiting state leader Zhang Dejiang on Wednesday.
This comes as an academic at a Beijing-backed think tank and some pan-democrats said they were hopeful there would be further dialogue between the two sides.
The source said the Shenzhen trip for lawmakers could last just a day or half a day, with the theme being economic cooperation between the two cities.
It would be a test to determine how sincere the pan-democrats were in communicating with the central government, according to the source.
He added that a senior official from the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office would take part in the trip.
While there was no official word on the schedule, the Hong Kong Economic Journal reported on Friday that it was being planned for next month.
When asked to confirm the matter, Legislative Council president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing said: “No comments for the time being.”
Three pan-democratic lawmakers who met Zhang on Wednesday – the Democratic Party’s Emily Lau Wai-hing, the Civic Party’s Alan Leong Kah-kit and the Labour Party’s Cyd Ho Sau-lan – said they had not been informed about a trip to Shenzhen.
Ho, however, said it would be better if it took place after the Legco polls in September.
Lawmaker Ip Kwok-him, of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said a trip to the mainland could happen before July as the idea had been discussed for a while.
The Chief Executive’s Office said the government “is willing to create different opportunities for lawmakers, including the pan-democrats, to have exchanges with central government officials on the country’s and Hong Kong’s affairs”.
At least seven pan-democratic lawmakers do not have home-return permits to allow them to enter and exit the mainland.
During the historic meeting on Wednesday, Zhang was quoted as saying: “The issue will be resolved one day.”
Lau said she would not join the trip to Shenzhen if Beijing did not issue the permits to pan-democrats.
On a radio show on Friday, Professor Lau Siu-kai, a vice-chairman of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, said talks between the two sides could continue following the meeting on Wednesday.
“The central government has been proactive ... It would depend on whether the pan-democrats can form a consensus internally to accept this olive branch,” he said.
The Labour Party’s Lee Cheuk-yan was optimistic about further dialogue, but stressed it would need to yield concrete results, such as restarting the stalled political reform process.
Executive Councillor Cheng Yiu-tong, who attended the pan-democrats’ meeting with Zhang, said the two sides should hold talks twice a year.
“I hope new-term lawmakers will also visit the mainland after the elections in September,” he said, while calling on Beijing to issue home-return permits to all pan-democrats.
