HK lawmakers' responsibility

Speaking at a four-hour meeting with more than 50 Hong Kong lawmakers on Sunday, Wang Guangya, director of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, urged them to exercise their rights prudently and act responsibly, and not to make a "regretful decision" that will go down in history when voting on the constitutional reform package that will shape the city's future.

This was the first time central government officials and the opposition legislators have talked since the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government unveiled its constitutional reform package, and this may well be the last and only such meeting before the bill is put to a vote at the Legislative Council by the end of this month.

The package, which is in line with the Basic Law and the National People's Congress Standing Committee's Aug 31 decisions, means Hong Kong's lawmakers are voting on whether 5 million eligible voters in Hong Kong will be active participants rather than passive observers in the electoral process to choose the next chief executive of the HKSAR in 2017.