8.
In
of "monopolising" the discussion to her own exclusion. response to my specific questions, the other Councillors and Mr. Tinson denied this allegation.
Among specific roints made by ne at the meeting were
:
2.-
that the creation of a Folice Advisory Council, as recommended in an editorial in Hong Kong, could assist in combatting crime and restoring Police morale after the trauma of corruption investigations;
that discussions with the Peking Government regarding Hong Kong's future after expiry of the New Territories lease should be commenced as soon as practicable;
that the military cut-backs resumption of military land Barracks and Stone Cutter's and other public use;
should be allied with the particularly Victoria Island for recreational
-
that the ICAC is doing an effective job under dedicated leadership but that care must be exercised to protect individual rights and the good name of innocent persons;
that Hong Kong looked to the U.k, for effective assistance in protecting its trade in international negotiations.
A pertinent point was made by one MP, in discussing the need
M2, for dialogue with the P.R.C. on the future of Hong Kong, that perhaps Britain would be uninterested in the retention of an
"anachronistic" Colony which created few advantages and many problems. It seems to me that unless Hong Kong can show positive value to Britain through trade and general economic relations, there mrst arise a growing feeling of this nature.
The Hong Kong Government and community would do well to ponder this paint.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The meetings with Mr. O'Keefe, FCO Hong Kong Desk, on the Wednesday morning, and with Lord Goronwy-Roberts on the sane evening, followed broadly similar lines with the familiar division of opinion on such questions as corruption and elected government.
11
Mrs. Elliott presented a letter from a local group known as the Movement for Representation in Governuent which Lord Goronwy-Roberts regarded as "an activist minority group. Mrs. Elliott stated that she was not a member of the Asso- ciation (merely its messenger) and was unfamiliar with the person who signed the letter. In response to Lord Goronwy-. Roberts, other delegates expressed their own lack of any detailed knowledge of the composition or leadership of M.R.G. On other subjects, I made the point that crime has reached unacceptable levels, recommending reinstatement of capital punishment, the creation of a Police Advisory Council (with UMELCO, Urbco, JP's, etc. participation) and Urban Council control over censorship of films and children's publications.