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HK, China officials

HONG KONG: Senior Chinese and Hong Kong officials have agreed to set aside differences and work for a smooth transition to Beijing in 1997, despite jitters in the British colony about life under Chinese rule.

They broke the ice over the dinner table on Thursday night.

Hong Kong's Chief Secretary Anson Chan met Beijing's senior policy maker on Hong Kong, Lu Ping, and China's resident envoy Zhou Nan, for what was billed as an informal dinner chat.

"It was a very friendly and relaxed affair," Chan, known as an "iron lady" for the tough character behind her warm smile, said later, adding that it was a "very frank exchange of views".

"Both sides agreed that we should set aside our differences and concentrate on intensifying cooperation in order to achieve a smooth transition," she told reporters.

The contact was a stark contrast with relations between Governor Chris Patten and China's Lu and Zhou. At loggerheads over Patten's democratic reforms, they never meet.

Local newspaper headlines hailed the wining and dining session as a breakthrough, although they noted many stumbling blocks remained in the run-up to July 1, next year, when China recovers its sovereignty over Hong Kong from Britain.

Lu slipped out of Hong Kong by the back door on Friday morning avoiding the airport and returning to China over the land border by car in an effort to dodge pro-democracy protesters who have dogged his movements over the past week.

He has played cat and mouse for eight days with protesters, hunger strikers and petitioners who railed against what they describe as Beijing's plan to curtail democratic rights in Hong Kong after 1997.

Quarrels between Britain and China and between Beijing and the local democracy camp centre on China's plan to scrap Hong Kong's elected legislature and water down its bill of rights.

Protests turned violent during Lu's visit when demonstrators scuffled with police and senior Chinese officials outside a downtown luxury hotel last weekend.

Chan said she had relayed to Lu the concern of Hong Kong civil servants that they should remain above politics.

Lu told China's Xinhua news agency he expected Hong Kong's top civil servants to remain in office beyond the handover, a signal likely to be received well in the British colony.

"As far as we are concerned, the incumbent principal officials are expected to remain," he told Xinhua.

Chan asked Lu to hold early expert talks on post-1997 residency rights in Hong Kong, and Lu invited Chan to Beijing in the near future to continue the discussions.

"Clearly there is a will to try to cooperate and not to concentrate on our differences. So I very much look forward to our continuing dialogue not only with Mr Lu but also with other Chinese leaders," Chan said.

China-born Chan's ability to talk to the Beijing policy makers sets her increasingly apart from Patten, to whom she is second-in-command in the colonial administration.

She created a stir a year ago when she stopped off in Beijing for discreet talks with the Chinese side, and there has been speculation she might become Hong Kong's interim leader when sovereignty is transferred to China.-Reuter