A senior official with China's top legislature said Friday in Shenzhen that the constitutional reform plan put forth by the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and the universal suffrage timetable for Hong Kong should be handled separately.

"It's not realistic to tackle the two things in a single package," Qiao Xiaoyang, deputy secretary-general of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), said to a group of reporters after attending a symposium on the development of Hong Kong's constitutional system.

The symposium, held in southern China's Shenzhen city, was jointly sponsored by the HKSAR government and the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong.

"The symposium was proceeded in a harmonious atmosphere which is necessary for rational discussions, but there still remains a gap to reach a consensus," said Xiao.

Also present at the symposium were Li Fei, deputy director of the Legislative Affairs Committee of the NPC Standing Committee, and Zhang Xiaoming, deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council.

According to Qiao, the separate handling of the 2007/2008 election of Hong Kong's Chief Executive and the Legislative Council and the timetable for universal suffrage is a good solution to the current differences over the direction of Hong Kong's constitutional development.

Qiao said polls show that the government's plan has won more support than the opposed, but some people ask for a concrete timetable for the realization of universal suffrage.

"The two things are not contradictory and both deserve our respect," he said.

He said the priority is to deal with the plan for the 2007/2008 constitutional reform.

"Extensive discussions for the timetable are still needed," he said, fearing no consensus could be reached to that effect in a short period.

The consensus not only on the timetable for the universal suffrage, but also on the way for universal suffrage should be in line with the Hong Kong Basic Law and the features of the Hong Kong society, he stressed.

He expressed the hope that all walks of life in Hong Kong should proceed from the overall need of safeguarding Hong Kong's prosperity and stability, explore the way in a rational manner so as to take an important and substantial step to promote its constitutional reform.

Source: Xinhua