It was the first time since the handover that a mainland official had criticized news coverage in Hong Kong.

But mainland officials who are cooperating say they have found no evidence of the infection.

"We think it is quite possible" that some mainland officials and bureaucrats were involved in smuggling, she said.

In other, more ordinary cases, if mainland officials were to request access to a prisoner, it seems unlikely that the Hong Kong government would refuse.

Her songs were considered "Bourgeois Music" by mainland officials.

Foreign policy analysts predicted that mainland officials would initially reject it.

By this line of reasoning, these analysts said, mainland officials would be reluctant to stop saber-rattling after a one-time election setback for Mr. Chen.

Some unanticipated give and take occurred this morning when a mainland official, Tang Shubei, arrived for the signing ceremony.

This caused a furore, prompting a senior mainland official and top local advisers to Beijing to defend the secrecy of the Chief Executive election vote.

The law requires a term of five years, but mainland officials have said the new leader filling-in can only serve until 2007.