Beijing calls urgent meeting with Hong Kong pro-democracy MPs
China wants to discuss the future of democracy in the territory just a few days before a big march set for 4 December. Meanwhile, Martin Lee has met the US Secretary of State.
Hong Kong (AsiaNews/Agencies) Just a few days before a rally for universal suffrage, Bejing leaders have hastened to call Hong Kong's pro-democracy MPs to China to discuss the future of democracy.
The MPs today accepted Bejing's invitation to participate in a meeting with important representatives of the central government before the great protest march.
The rally set for 4 December has the explicit blessing of Hong Kong's Catholic bishop, Mgr Joseph Zen Ze-kiun and that of the President of the Methodist Church, Ralph Lee Ting-sun.
Beijing extended the invitation to 19 Opposition MPs: eight have said they will meet Qiao Xiaoyang, deputy secretary-general of the Chinese legislature's standing committee, on Friday, as well as other high-ranking Chinese politicians.
The meeting will be held in Shenzhen city in western Guangdong province, the seat of China's economic boom. On 26 September, the same province hosted the first, historic meeting in 16 years between Communist leaders and the pro-democracy lawmakers. The MPs had in fact been expelled from China or denied visas because of their backing for the pro-democracy and anti-corruption movement suppressed in Tiananmen Square in June 1989.
Emily Lau Wai-hing, a member of the Frontier (in the past one of Beijing's least favourite democratic movements) will attend the meeting. She said the lawmakers accepted the invitation even though some see it as simply a tactic to reduce the turnout for the 4 December march. "Communication between the parties is something we've always agreed on. And if Qiao says negative things, he would even help boost the march turnout," she said.
The march will be closely monitored because it is held to be an important gauge of the extent of popular sentiment towards democracy in Hong Kong. "In the meeting, we will raise demands for a roadmap and timetable towards full democracy in the territory," continued the activist.
The MPs will also send a letter to Qiao inviting him to Hong Kong to "watch" the rally.
Among the group of invited MPs, the former president of the Democratic Party, Martin Lee Chu-ming has not yet replied. Last year, he was described as a "traitor" by a Beijing politician. The politician yesterday met the American Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, to "discuss the question of democracy in Hong Kong".
The meeting was held in private but a State Department spokesman said that Washington "believes that the goal of universal suffrage should be achieved as soon as possible".
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