Minutes before a midnight deadline set by the protesters for Hong Kong's chief executive to resign passed, Leung Chun-ying said he would send his chief secretary to meet with the demonstrators. He said he had no intention of stepping down.
The students had earlier on Thursday threatened to escalate their protests - including occuptation of government buildings - unless Leung stepped down.
Leung warned the protesters of serious consequences if they chose to storm government buildings.
Al Jazeera's Divya Gopalan, reporting live from Hong Kong, said Leung gave no timeframe for the talks.
She said that Leung's statement was played on loud speakers to the protesters outside and was received with a lot of loud booing. She noted that the crowd had become noisier since the speech. but there had been no attempts made so far to cross the barrier.
Thousands of protesters have been camping out in the main streets of the Chinese autonomous region for the past several days.
Earlier, Al Jazeera's Scott Heidler, also reporting from Hong Kong, said that some protesters had started to occupy the area next to Leung's office on Thursday morning.
The Associated Press news agency reported that police manned barricades at a nearby intersection, with protesters camped on the other side, huddled under umbrellas.
"It's too late for [Leung's] government to be accountable to the people, so we want a new one," May Tang, a 21-year-old student protester, told AP.
With the protests showing no signs of waning, China's foreign minister, Wang Yi, issued the warning to the US and other foreign countries not to interfere.
Beijing's biggest challenge
Reuters news agency, citing an official source, reported that Leung was willing to let the demonstrations go on for weeks if necessary.
Speaking in Washington, China's foreign minister added that Beijing would not tolerate "illegal acts that violate public order".
The People's Daily newspaper, the government's official newspaper, said in a commentary on Thursday that Beijing "fully trusts" Hong Kong's Leung, and that it is "very satisfied with his work".
The week-long street protests by thousands of demonstrators pressing for electoral reforms in Hong Kong are the biggest challenge to Beijing's authority since China took control of the former British colony in 1997.
They were triggered after the Chinese government restricted who can run as the commercial hub's next chief executive, or leader, in elections scheduled for 2017.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
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