Eddie Luk
Thursday, July 24, 2014
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However, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said she could not promise anything because of the short time left between now and the NPC meeting in late August.
The meeting between Lam and 18 pan-democratic lawmakers lasted almost two hours during which they discussed their three-track proposal and demanded that any reform proposal put forward by the government must comply with international standards.
And last night Alliance for True Democracy convener Joseph Cheng Yu- shek said they might mount non-violent activities to fight for universal suffrage if the standing committee rejected civil nominations in its decision.
Cheng said this after the alliance, Occupy Central, Civil Human Rights Front, Federation of Students and Scholarism members held a meeting on political reform last night.
Occupy Central organizer Chan Kin-man echoed Cheng, saying they would do so only if the situation is "completely hopeless."
Lam's talks with lawmakers came after meetings in Shenzhen hosted by NPC chairman Zhang Dejiang with pro-establishment parties, major business chambers and community groups over the past three days.
Lawmakers from the Democratic, Civic and Labour parties, as well as those from functional constituencies, told Lam they would like to meet senior Beijing officials in charge of Hong K
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But the Neo Democrats' Gary Fan Kwok-wai said he will not attend if the meeting is held in the mainland or in the central government liaison office in Western.
Analysts believe the democrats are prepared to hold several meetings if necessary and hope the standing committee will delay its decision on reform to allow more time for discussion.
"I have not made any promise about arranging such a meeting," Lam said later.
"There are only four to five weeks left and within such a short period I cannot say if we can arrange the meeting."
Lam said she would tell Beijing that the pan-democratic lawmakers are hoping to hold talks with senior Beijing officials in charge of Hong Kong affairs.
Civic Party lawmaker Alan Leong Kah-kit criticized Zhang for listening only to the pro- establishment groups during his three days in Shenzhen.
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=11&art_id=147690&sid=42673863&con_type=3&d_str=20140724&fc=4
