Hong Kong -
Hong Kong's leader said on Thursday he is ready to start talks as soon as next week with student leaders of the pro-democracy protests that have rocked the city for nearly three weeks.
The announcement suggests a breakthrough in a bitter standoff between the authorities and pro-democracy protesters, who have taken over major roads and streets in the city centre since September 28 to press for a greater say in choosing the city's leader.
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said officials have been negotiating with the students through middlemen in the past few days, and announced that authorities are keen to discuss details of democratic reform with them.
“As long as students or other sectors in Hong Kong are prepared to focus on this issue, yes we are ready, we are prepared to start the dialogue,” he told reporters.
“This is why over the past few days ... we expressed the wish to students that we'd like to start the dialogue to discuss universal suffrage as soon as we can, and hopefully within the following week.”
Authorities angered protesters when they called off a scheduled meeting with student leaders last week, saying talks were unlikely to produce constructive results.
It is unclear whether the proposed meeting can overcome the vast differences between the two sides.
Protesters oppose the Chinese central government's ruling that a committee stacked with pro-Beijing elites should screen candidates in the territory's first direct elections, promised in 2017.
That effectively means that Beijing can vet the nominees before they go a public vote.
Leung reiterated Thursday that Beijing will not retract its decision. However, he said there is scope for negotiations in how the committee that nominates candidates is formed.
“In the second round of consultation, we can still listen to everyone's views. There is still room to discuss issues including the exact formation of the nomination committee,” he said.
Tensions between the two sides have escalated in the past few days, as riot police armed with pepper spray and batons moved to clear activists from the occupied streets.
Public anger over the aggressive tactics used by police erupted Wednesday after local TV showed several officers taking a protester around a dark corner and kicking him repeatedly on the ground. Police said they will investigate, and seven officers allegedly involved in the incident have been reassigned.
China's central government is becoming increasingly impatient with the mostly peaceful demonstrations, the biggest challenge to its authority since China took control of the former British colony in 1997.
There were no signs, however, that Beijing was planning to become directly involved in suppressing them. - Sapa-AP