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HK vows to resist China-appointed legislature

HONG KONG: Hong Kong stood firm on Saturday in the face of pressure from China to cooperate with an appointed legislature which will replace the British colony's democratically elected parliament after 1997.

Hong Kong's most senior civil servant, Anson Chan, prepared to leave China late on Saturday, after voicing opposition to Beijing's plan to scrap the colony's existing legislature.

The colony faces the prospect of two legislatures in the lead up to the 1997 handover -- one appointed by China, the other democratically elected in September last year.

"On the provisional legislature there remain fundamental differences between the two sides," said Chan, deputy to Governor Chris Patten, after talks with China's most senior official presiding over Hong Kong affairs, Lu Ping.

But the two officials, who met in Beijing late on Friday in an effort to soothe growing anxieties in the British colony over its reversion to Chinese rule mid-next year, spoke publicly of conciliation.

They smoothed over their differences, saying there would be as much cooperation as possible in the transition period.-Reuter