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HONG KONG—After more than three weeks of protests, student leaders met for the first time with government officials, drawing thousands to the streets but failing to resolve the political standoff.
Despite police fears that the talks could provoke further street clashes, the city’s protest encampments remained peaceful overnight and were quiet Wednesday morning.
After the talks Tuesday night, Hong Kong’s government offered to submit an official report to Beijing that reflects the protesters’ views, but stuck to its line that it wouldn’t ask China’s leadership to revoke its plan to impose limits on how the city’s leader is elected.
The proposal came amid calls to better relay public views on political reform to central authorities in China, which has repeatedly criticized the demonstrations.
“Hong Kong’s young people have already made lots of sacrifices, including their time, and risking arrest and their futures,” said Lester Shum, deputy secretary-general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, during a two-hour dialogue that was broadcast live. “We only have a small wish—democracy….How can you ask us to leave the streets and accept the current election method?”
The five university student representatives, dressed in black T-shirts that said “Freedom Now,” sat opposite five senior officials dressed in suits in a conference room at a medical college.
The students held fast to their demand that the chief executive of Hong Kong should be publicly nominated in 2017.
Protesters have blamed the Hong Kong government’s failure to adequately convey society’s views to China for the lack of democratic progress in the city.
The government in July submitted an initial report to China’s legislature after a public consultation, a formality to kick-start the political reform process.
In August, the National People’s Congress ruled that candidates running for the top post in Hong Kong must be approved by a nominating committee largely loyal to Beijing.
The talks weren’t expected to yield any substantive results, and didn’t. The student leaders pledged to continue occupying the city’s streets unless the government shows more “sincerity” in talks.
“I’m afraid that we can only agree to disagree,” said Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s No. 2 official, after the two-hour discussion. She said she didn’t expect to reach an agreement in a single session, and added that the door for talks in the future is “open.”
No further conversations have been scheduled, though student leaders said they would convene Wednesday to decide on their next steps.
During Tuesday’s talks, a sober-faced Ms. Lam said repeatedly that asking Beijing to revoke its decision would be impossible. Students reject that view. Yvonne Leung, a student of government and laws at the University of Hong Kong, accused the Hong Kong government of deflecting responsibility for the political crisis to Beijing.
“The report that [the Hong Kong government submitted to Beijing] wasn’t complete or objective,” said Ms. Leung. Protesters watched a live feed of the talks through giant screens at protest sites, and applauded loudly when the students spoke.
The officials insist that the students’ demand for civic nomination isn’t a majority view in Hong Kong, and said many want the political reform process to move forward.
“We cannot accept the accusation that the report submitted was unfair, so we don’t need to respond by submitting another report,” said Ms. Lam. But the officials also said that the restrictions won’t last forever. One said that civic nomination can be “explored” in the long run, but not for the next chief executive elections in 2017.
A minor concession from the government did come in the form of a pledge to submit a report to Beijing explaining the events in Hong Kong of the past few weeks. The government had previously rejected calls by protesters for a supplementary report to China.
“We cannot deny that over the past month…there was a social movement of a very large scale…so we are willing to submit a report to the central authorities about the events taking place in Hong Kong,” said Ms. Lam.
However, Alex Chow, secretary-general of the student federation, asked whether there was any “practical purpose” to the report, such as a clear timetable of electoral changes to come.
The officials made no promises, saying they need to listen to different views in society and balance various interests.
“The government officials have spent a long time saying precisely nothing. They are repeating what they have been saying all the time,” said Margaret Ng, a former pro-democracy lawmaker who was watching the live broadcast at the Admiralty protest site.
Hundreds of protesters also gathered in the Mong Kok protest site to watch the dialogue telecast. “The government sounded like it was just reading from a script. Their words are very hard to understand, and I think most people don’t know what they are talking about when they refer to specific laws,” said Eric Wai, a 31-year-old computer programmer, who watched the talks in Mong Kok.
The student representatives also took advantage of interviews published in Western media with Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying Monday, where he said that in elections with publicly nominated candidates, the city’s poor and working class would dominate the elections.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Chow said Mr. Leung’s comments reflect the injustice of the current electoral system which he contended is skewed toward big business.
Ms. Lam also said she recognized the generally peaceful and orderly behavior of the student protesters, but said nonetheless that the occupation of major roads is still illegal and should cease. She voiced concerns that the outbreak of violence in the Mong Kok protest site over the weekend show that the protests were veering away from their stated peaceful nature.
Ms. Lam’s views echo those of the police, who said that the area was “on the verge of turning into a riot.” Nearly 70 people were injured in clashes in Mong Kok.
The issue of police force dogged the conversation, with Ms. Lam repeating the government’s stance that the police have exercised great restraint and tolerance.
But Mr. Shum asked, “Why do many citizens still come out to protest, even though they get beaten by the police?”
Though neither side has shown a public willingness to compromise, Tuesday night’s talks were seen as an important first step to ease the standoff. The overall mood of the discussions, which was moderated by a university president, was calm and cordial.
“The government didn’t give us any substantive response nor directions” during the meeting, said Yvonne Leung, a member of the student federation who also attended the talks.
“We are very disappointed and we will continue to stay” in the occupied sites, she said.
In a quick rebuttal, Hong Kong government said in a statement late Tuesday it was “disappointed” about the student federation’s comments on a lack of substantive government response. The government said the officials had a meaningful and sincere dialogue with the student representatives in the meeting and gave positive responses.
