HK govt suspends meeting with Occupy students

Hong Kong government announced Thursday evening that it suspended formal meeting with representatives of students participating in the Occupy Central movement scheduled for Friday afternoon since student leaders called on more people to join the sit-in protest.

Carrie Lam, chief secretary of the region's government, told a press conference that student leaders' moves had undermined basis for a constructive dialogue and it would be impossible to have a constructive meeting on Friday.

After more than week-long demonstration which had paralyzed partial transport in the Asian financial hub, tensions had been reduced between the government and students who were discontent with an election reform package for choosing Hong Kong's next chief executive by universal suffrage.

Hong Kong's Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying appointed Carrie Lam on Oct. 3 as the government representative to hold formal talks with students discussing the region's constitutional reform.

However, preliminary contacts between the two sides had achieved nothing but a date for the first formal meeting. Government officials had said that they could not even agree on a location for the meeting.

"The government has shown many good faith, and both sides should show good faith," Carrie Lam said, blaming the student leaders for using protestors as a leverage to negotiate.

The government could not accept using the chance of opening talks to incite more people to join the Occupy Central movement which had illegally blocked roads and brought negative impact on other citizens' daily lives.

Hong Kong Federation of Students, one of the major organizers for the movement, issued an open letter on Oct. 2, calling for dialogues with the government with no claim to overturn the election reform framework set by China's top legislature.

But leaders of the federation had reclaimed in recent two days to overturn the election reform framework and asked for "civil nomination" in nominating chief executive candidates for a universal suffrage which is not an option in line with Hong Kong's Basic Law.