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HK lawmaker says China's meddling is unacceptable

An influential Hong Kong lawmaker yesterday accused Chinese officials of undermining the former British colony's autonomy by pressuring legislators to end a political row over proposed electoral reforms.

Emily Lau (劉慧卿), a vocal opponent of Hong Kong's Beijing-backed government, said Chinese officials had been lobbying legislators in a bid to heal divisions over the reforms that threaten to plunge the city into a constitutional crisis.

"In the past few weeks, officials of the Central Government Liaison Office have gone all out to lobby legislators," Lau said of Beijing's representatives here on local RTHK public radio.

"They are totally unabashed in their efforts to influence legislators," Lau added.

Although Hong Kong is ruled by Beijing, it was promised a high degree of autonomy under the so called "one country, two systems" model that allows it to maintain its freewheeling capitalist way of life within communist China.

Opposition legislators such as Lau who are agitating for a swift transition to full democracy fear increased Chinese involvement in city affairs will erode the basic rights its citizens enjoy over their countrymen across the border.

The accusations have come as Hong Kong's Beijing-selected political leader Donald Tsang (曾蔭權) tours the US to drum up support for an electoral reform package designed to take the city closer to the constitutional goal of one-man, one-vote.

Opposition lawmakers say the proposals don't go far enough toward full democracy and have said they will block the package in the legislature.

Although legal experts are unsure of the constitutional consequences of such an event, Hong Kong officials are keen for the proposals to be passed in the hope they will cool a divisive row over the city's political future.

China is also anxious for the reform package to pass as it fears political tensions could destabilize the financial hub's economic recovery, on which it depends for much of its own growth.
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