Chinese Resist Hong Kong Reform Plans : Asia: New governor of British colony runs into opposition in Beijing. Premier won’t see him.

Hong Kong Gov. Chris Patten, trying to win Beijing’s acquiescence to plans for democratic reforms in the British colony, instead ran into unyielding Chinese opposition during six hours of talks here Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters after meeting with Lu Ping, director of Beijing’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, Patten said that political reforms he had proposed earlier this month dominated the talks, which ran three hours longer than scheduled.

“I can’t say that we reached a meeting of minds on what I had put forward,” Patten said. He described the talks as serious, vigorous, thoughtful and civilized.

Patten, who was heading off for a banquet with Lu, further hinted at the difficulty of the talks with the comment, “I hope in the interest of our digestion that we can talk about some other issues.”

China indicated its displeasure by announcing that Premier Li Peng will not meet with Patten during his four-day visit here. In the past, the premier has normally met visiting Hong Kong governors.

Just before the talks began, Wednesday’s overseas edition of the official newspaper People’s Daily ran a report that accused Patten of “playing political tricks and putting on a show.”

Britain has ruled Hong Kong for 150 years, ever since China, defeated in the Opium War, ceded what was then an almost uninhabited island in a fine natural harbor. Under a 1984 Sino-British agreement, Hong Kong returns to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.

Interpretation of the deliberately vague 1984 joint declaration is now bitterly disputed among Hong Kong advocates of greater democracy, British colonial authorities and Beijing.

Patten has tried to reconcile the differences by advocating more democratic procedures for electing Hong Kong’s Legislative Council and a clearer separation of powers between the colony’s Legislative and Executive councils, without going so far as to introduce a fully democratic system, which would clearly violate the 1984 agreement.

The British are under conflicting pressures. London does not want to upset its own relations with China or create instability in Hong Kong by setting up a system that Beijing would quickly dismantle in 1997.

Yet London feels moral and political pressure not to turn the 5.8 million people of Hong Kong over to Chinese rule without doing what it can to strengthen local institutions that might provide some practical protection against a post-1997 erosion of civil liberties.

From the point of view of authorities in Beijing, Britain was happy enough with a non-democratic government in Hong Kong as long as London was in charge. Now that Beijing will soon be in a position to call the shots, the Chinese do not want any significant change in Hong Kong’s system, under which real authority is vested in the governor.

The two sides remained deadlocked on this issue Wednesday.

Lu reiterated Beijing’s view that the governor’s recent proposals violate the 1984 accord, Patten said.

Patten expressed unhappiness that Lu refused to offer any counterproposals on the issue of political reform.

“I will want to take account of any alternative proposals that are put forward, because I think that’s what people would expect,” Patten said. “What I can’t do is consider other proposals if there aren’t any.”

Patten said he and Lu spoke only briefly about disagreements over a badly needed new airport for Hong Kong.

Many Hong Kong residents believe that Beijing is creating obstacles over construction of the airport--planned for completion before the turnover of sovereignty--as a way of exerting pressure against democratic reforms.