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Hong Kong lawmaker blames both pan-dems and Beijing officials for failure to reach reform agreement

Lawmaker still committed to voting down 2017 poll package but hopes talks can resume later

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Regina Ip (left) and Emily Lau yesterday. Photo: David Wong

Both Beijing and the pan-democrats missed opportunities to reach a solution on political reform, but Hong Kong will be better off if the government's proposal is voted down this month, Civic Party lawmaker Ronny Tong Ka-wah said yesterday.

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Tong, a moderate in the pan-democratic camp, was speaking a day after top Beijing officials and pan-democrats failed to narrow their differences during a four-hour meeting on how Hong Kong should elect its leader by "one man, one vote" for the first time in 2017.

Tong blamed both sides, saying that since the handover neither Beijing nor the pan-democrats had tried to resolve "their most fundamental point of conflict, which is [the lack of] mutual trust".

He said he would join his 26 pan-democratic colleagues in voting down the package because it was better for Hong Kong's interests in the short and medium term. "After the package is voted down, we will all have the opportunity to [rest and cool down] and to rebuild a better relationship," Tong said. "With the improvement of relations and more mutual understanding, there could be sufficient [grounds] to talk about universal suffrage once again."

Executive Council member Cheng Yiu-tong questioned whether the pan-democrats were really determined to block the package.

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He said: "Many people are coming out like boiled ducks: there's nothing good about them except their stiff mouths."

Tong said Cheng's comment showed his disrespect for the pan-democrats. "He doesn't understand us, " Tong told the .

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