Wed Apr 21, 3:25 AM ET Add World – AFP to My Yahoo!
HONG KONG, (AFP) – Hong Kong pro-democracy legislators are claiming senior Chinese officials have ignored their requests to attend a forum on the city’s electoral reforms.
One of the legislators, Frederick Fung, said he was “disappointed” not to be invited to the meeting between Qiao Xiaoyang, deputy secretary general of China’s parliament, mainland officials and local delegates.
The 22 democrats from the former British colony said they had asked for invitations to the two-day meeting, which opened Wednesday just over the border in Shenzhen, but received no response.
Qiao said he had received a letter from the Hong Kong politicians but it was too late to fit them into his already full diary.
“I have only received (their requests) when I arrived yesterday afternoon and it’s now too rushed to have them at the forum,” Qiao told Cable TV in Shenzhen.
“We have opened the door for public opinions. Representatives from different sectors are coming and I’m sure they would be able to reflect (the democrats’) views,” said Qiao.
However, Fung said: “We are very disappointed for not being invited. It’s not too rushed to have us in tomorrow’s meeting. Only last week, (Qiao) said we need communications.
“I don’t think they are very serious about it. I feel that the relationship between Hong Kong and China has gone backward.”
According to pro-Beijing newspaper Wen Wei Po, up to 80 academics, businessmen and representatives from 10 different sectors of Hong Kong were invited to attend the second day of the forum Thursday.
The forum comes ahead of the April 25-26 meeting of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, China’s top legislative body, which ruled earlier this month that it had the final say on political reform in Hong Kong.
The committee will discuss a report submitted by the city’s Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa last Thursday, which recommended “gradual” electoral change but imposed nine conditions on any reforms which analysts said would make universal suffrage in 2007 and 2008 almost impossible.
Speaking to reporters in Shenzhen, Qiao refused to comment on whether universal suffrage by 2007 would be allowed.
Yan Sham-Shackleton Online 