Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Stephen Lam Monday said he had never heard that the central government had ruled out universal suffrage for Hong Kong in 2007 and 2008 as reported by the local media.

When the Task Force on Constitutional Development visited Beijing last week, they only discussed constitutional development, he said, adding that patriotism was not a subject for discussion with mainland officials.

At a Legislative Council panel meeting Monday, the Frontier's Emily Lau referred to news reports that Beijing had in fact shut the door on universal suffrage for election of the chief executive in 2007 and formation of the legislature in 2008.

The consultation work of the taskforce, of which Chief Secretary Donald Tsang is the leader and Lam a member, is nothing but a show, the reports said, quoting a source close to Beijing.

The news reports further quoted the source saying that in extreme cases the central government could start a "second stove" by forming a provisional Legislative Council in October like what happened in 1997.

"How will the government interpret these news reports?" Lau asked.

Lam replied: "I have never heard such things nor has anyone told me about that."

Democratic Party Chairman Yeung Sum asked if any mainland official had questioned whether those who did not support Article 23 legislation were patriotic during their meetings in Beijing.

Without taking on the question directly, Lam said Hong Kong people were, on the whole, patriotic, supporting the reunification and implementation of "One Country, Two Systems" in line with the Basic Law.

"We do believe that the vast majority of Hong Kong people are patriotic. They do identify with the implementation of the Basic Law, and the community as a whole does support [the issue] that we need to protect national security," Lam said.

He added that Beijing's principle that patriots should form the ruling body of Hong Kong refers to government officials only but not ordinary citizens.

On constitutional development, Lam reiterated that at this stage, their discussions are purely about principles and legislative process, adding that the central government is very serious about discussion on the issue.

"They do want to enable Hong Kong to gain a proper understanding of the principles and legislative process backing up constitutional development in the Basic Law," he said.

These discussions are clearly constructive, leading to a more comprehensive understanding of the Basic Law regarding the constitutional development process, he added.

The government would deal with constitutional development and national security legislation separately, Lam said, echoing Chief Secretary Donald Tsang's view that the two issues were different subjects.

"If we ever bring up the issue of Article 23 legislation again, we would seek support from all quarters of the community, but this would be dealt with as a separate issue," he said.

(China Daily HK Edition February 17, 2004)