"It's a groundless rumor that China's central government has set a timetable for universal suffrage in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region," state-run Xinhua News Agency said, quoting the Central Liaison Office.

A local newspaper quoted a source as saying: "The central government may hint in vague and indirect wording that there could be a possibility of reaching full democracy by 2017."

Xinhua said that, at the moment, the most urgent task is for the government to reform the 2007-08 electoral system for the election of the chief executive and the legislature.

It reiterated that, according to National People's Congress Standing Committee Deputy Secretary General Qiao Xiaoyang, both the government's political reform proposals and a timetable for universal suffrage are supported by the public, and they are not mutually exclusive.

Meanwhile, a source close to Beijing said the central government never had plans to set any timetable for democracy and the rumors were fueled by the unilateral wishes of democrats, flush with a moral victory from Sunday's massive democracy march.

"Beijing will stand firm because it is furious about the protest. It hates being threatened into making concessions," the source said.

However, the pro-democracy camp says it opposes any move to set 2017 as the target for full democracy.

Article 45 Concern Group legislator Ronny Tong said he had been told by a "middleman" from Beijing that the date could be part of a compromise to entice democrats to back the government's political reform package. However, Tong said such an offer was unacceptable.

"Maybe Beijing wants to test the water. Now this statement may mean that Beijing has ruled out giving any timetable for universal suffrage," he said. "But we cannot accept 2017 as the year for universal suffrage because, by that time, a lot of incumbent Beijing and Hong Kong leaders may not be in their present positions. Now what I can do is to keep waiting for a formal response from Beijing and the government."

Democratic Party chief Lee Wing- tat said he was disappointed at the statement. "More than 100,000 people took to the streets, but there is still no response from either Beijing or the government. It means that they have little regard for public opinion," he said.

"This kind of attitude will be denounced by the public and will deal a severe blow to Donald Tsang's governance. He may meet the same fate as his predecessor Tung Chee-hwa."