Pan-democrats invited to last-ditch political reform talks with Beijing officials
Pan-democratic lawmakers offered chance to 'exchange views' with three top Beijing officials as crunch vote on 2017 package approaches
Hong Kong's pan-democratic lawmakers have been invited to last-ditch talks with Beijing officials on political reform a week today - less than a month before a key vote on how the chief executive will be elected in 2017.
With reform hopes hanging by a thread as pan-democrats stand firm against Beijing's model for the election, the Hong Kong government on Saturday said it had invited all 70 lawmakers to the talks in Shenzhen.
They would get to "exchange views" with Wang Guangya, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office; Li Fei, chairman of the Basic Law Committee; and Zhang Xiaoming, director of Beijing's liaison office in Hong Kong.
A few pan-democrats, including Frederick Fung Kin-kee and the Civic Party's Ronny Tong Ka-wah, have said yes to the offer.
Tong, who has advocated a middle way on reform, said the talks could be a "last chance" for communication before the vote.
"I hope everyone will seize the opportunity and not take it as a chance for publicity stunts," Tong said. "I hope pan-democrats will come up with conditions for bargaining."
