W(B)L 51-7406
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
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A
ARGUMENT
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.The Bill was published in July, 1969,
for general information, and comments were
received from a wide range of interested
parties (paragraph 6 of Appendix A). These
comments, so far as they were considered
valid, were included in a new draft Bill, and
in November, 1969, the Executive Council
advised that the revised Bill should be
introduced into the Legislative Council. Can
we deny Hong Kong the right to determine
her own internal affairs because of the
constitutional relationship with the United
Kingdom which is not of our choosing but is
preserved solely because of Mainland China's
attitude towards the Colony? The Colony's
remarkable record of economic expansion and
material progress in the last decade, achieved
with the minimum of outside aid, has induced
a feeling of confidence among those who play
a prominent part in public affairs that, but
for the complication of China, Hong Kong would
be capable of standing on her own feet and,
more than any British dependent territory
which has been granted constitutional advance
since the war, of sustaining self-government ing th
status. The Unofficial Members of the
Executive and Legislative Councils, supported
by public opinion as expressed in the non-
Communist press, are therefore inclined to
argue that Britain should not interfere in
local affairs.
11.
the
The Legal Advisers cannot provide any
arguments in terms of law to justify the
retention of Clause 10. If, therefore,
Bill, including Clause 10 becomes law and
HMG are subsequently criticised in either
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