CONFIDENTIAL
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Sir D Watson
Parliamentary Unit
PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION:
HONG KONG
DEMOCRATIC FORMS OF GOVERNMENT IN
1. Mr Ivor Clemitson MP (Labour, Luton East) has put down
a Question for oral answer on 29 January, to ask the Secretary of State what plans HM Government have for developing democratic forms of government in the Crown Colony of Hong Kong.
2.
This is a sensitive question in Hong Kong. The Chinese Government have made it plain that they would not tolerate any move towards independence in the Colony. While it might be possible to have a few elected Members in the Legislative Council without arousing Chinese fears, the only substantial political groups in the Colony support either Peking or Taiwan. Formal representation of either of these groups in the Legislative Council would be politically very undesirable. In this situation the Governor and his advisers, including the Unofficial Members of LegCo, are convinced that, while it is important that Members of Legislative Council should be drawn from a wider spectrum of society than hitherto, it is equally important that they should be seen to represent Hong Kong as a whole. This may make elections difficult. The most hopeful new source of possible Members is the Mutual Aid Committees set up throughout the Urban areas. But they have only been in operation for about a year and it is too early to identify the real leaders of opinion.
3. In answer to a question at his press conference in Hong Kong last week, Lord Goronwy-Roberts recalled that it had been British policy to advance all Dependent Territories in stages towards self-government and independence but that any move towards greater representative government must be a matter for Hong Kong. He alluded to the very sensitive local considerations which needed to be taken into account. On 21 January there was an inaccurate comment on Lord Goronwy-Roberts's statement in the Daily Mail
But so far, there has been no other UK press reaction.
Diary.
CONFIDENTIAL
14.
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