in the 1980s during the sino-british negotiation over the hong kong sovereignty, szeto wah called for the chinese resumption of the hong kong sovereignty and a democratic china and hong kong. in 1984 the hong kong government published the "green paper: the further development of representative government in hong kong" to suggest the introduction of direct elections in hong kong. initiated by the szeto-led ptu, 89 organisations attended an assembly at the ko shan theatre on 18 september 1984 in response to the green paper. in december 1984, szeto was invited by the beijing government to witness the signing of the sino-british joint declaration.