11.   Beijing said the provisional body was needed to handle transitional issues.

12.   China disbanded the elected legislature of which Lau was a member, and replaced it with a handpicked provisional body.

13.   China set up the provisional body in December.

14.   He said he had wanted the council secretariat to be preserved, the rules of procedure maintained and to prevent the provisional body from functioning before the handover.

15.   He urged his party to take the provisional body to court.

16.   However, civil servants will be required to cooperate with the provisional body, Xinhua said.

17.   Meanwhile, Tung moved to assert greater control over local authorities by publishing proposals to set up provisional bodies in place of the elected ones.

18.   Members of the provisional body meet in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, which adjoins Hong Kong, because Britain does not recognize the China-backed assembly.

19.   Some members say such matters should be left an elected legislature, rather than the narrowly based provisional body.

20.   The Democrats, who say the provisional body is illegal, have boycotted it but vowed to monitor its work.