Because of the sensitivity of the subject it is essential that it is held very close. Our intentions could all too easily be misinterpreted in Hong Kong as preparations for withdrawal; or by the Chinese as a plan to frustrate their ambitions.
4.
The particularly delicate point is that one of our objectives will be to strengthen the indigenous political and administrative base against the time of our eventual departure (para 1(b) above). We would not want to give any publicity to this because to do so would provoke the Chinese unnecessarily.
5.
There are, however, aspects of this subject which can and indeed will have to be dealt with more openly. Now that we have completed the District Board and Urban Council elections an increasing number of people are asking when we shall move to direct elections to Legislative Council. This would indeed be the natural next move and if all other things were equal I would be very content to see up to about one- third of the members of LegCo directly elected. But we have recently had confirmation from Roland Moyles' visit of the sensitivity of this subject to the Chinese. We shall therefore have to stick to our line, that having just completed this series of elections we should allow the system to settle down before thinking of new initiatives.
Б.
At the next level down, there are a number of issues with which we shall have to deal. For example, There is an increasingly anomalous distinction in administrative arrangements between the urban areas of the Island and South Kowloon for which the Urban Council is responsible, and the now rapidly growing urban areas in the New Territories, in particular the new towns of Tsuen Wan, Tuen Mun, Shatin, Taipo, Fanling etc. There is already pressure within the
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