High-level delegation denies any US role in Occupy protests

A high-powered delegation of visiting US lawmakers have assured Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying face-to-face that the United States did not have any role in last year's Occupy Central protests.

In a pointed but diplomatically worded statement issued last night, Republican congressman Matt Salmon, who led the three-man delegation from the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, also stressed that it was "important to fully understand the extent to which Beijing is honouring the 'one country, two systems' form of government" at what he described as a "critical political juncture" for Hong Kong.

The statement comes at the end of a carefully calibrated four-day visit during which the delegation met politicians on all sides of the argument over the government's political-reform package, which has split opinion in the city.

Leung - who met the congressmen in his office on Friday - has made repeated claims that his government has evidence that foreign powers were behind the organisation of the 79-day pro-democracy protests that crippled parts of the city and left deep political scars.

The US lawmakers' statement, issued on the eve of their departure from Hong Kong today, said: "While the chief executive previously accused the United States of influencing the 2014 Hong Kong protests, chairman Salmon took the opportunity at each of their meetings to clarify that the United States did not take any role in the Occupy Central protests."

Over the past few days, Salmon, fellow Republican Tom Emmer and Democrat Alan Lowenthal have met senior political figures in both the pro-government and pan-democrat camps, and while stopping short of endorsing the government's controversial package, they continued to use the language of moderation and compromise.

Beijing's restrictive framework for the next chief executive election was laid out last August. It allows only two or three candidates to face a popular vote for the leadership of the city after they have obtained majority support from a 1,200-strong nominating committee.

"The congressmen were intent on listening to the perspectives of different stakeholders in Hong Kong's future," the statement said, adding that they were intent on listening to the perspectives of different stakeholders in the city's future, but would "closely monitor the upcoming constitutional reforms".

During the meetings with Hong Kong lawmakers on Friday, Salmon, who chairs a congressional subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, suggested that "moving forward, sometimes half a loaf is better than no loaf", in a hint at compromise over the 2017 electoral reform.

Salmon - who spent two years as a Mormon missionary in Taiwan when he was young - became the new leader of the subcommittee this year. He was a long-time advocate of economic engagement with China and told The Associated Press when he took over the subcommittee chairmanship: "I want to be seen as someone who wants to work with China, but I'm certainly not going to be an appeaser."

In 2013, Lowenthal signed a resolution that condemned China for reportedly sanctioning organ harvesting from Falun Gong prisoners - a practice since outlawed by Beijing.

The congressmen also met pro-government lawmakers, including the former chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, Tam Yiu-chung, and former Liberal Party chairman James Tien Pei-chun.

Beijing has yet to respond to the visit of the US congressmen, which appears in stark contrast to a planned visit by a group of British MPs last November. They were forced to cancel their trip after Beijing's deputy ambassador to London said they would not be permitted to enter the city.

A Hong Kong government source said the British MPs were denied entry partly because their visit would have coincided with the Occupy protests.