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He made four recommendations to bring elected members into decision-making bodies. (1) There should be elected members in both Exco and Legco; (2) All DB and UC members should be chosen by election; (3) There should be six elected members in the Labour Advisory Committee; and (4) There should be more grassroots representatives in the Housing Authority.
Also speaking at the meeting, the executive director of CIC, Mr. Lau Chin-shek, said both London and Beijing were not doing their job sufficiently well to canvass opinion of local residents on the 1997 question. HK people should be given a say as well as a role to make recommendations and decisions on their own future.
Commenting on Dr. Ding's speech, the Tin Tin Daily News said his proposal to have elected members in Exco and Legco might contradict Britain's interests here, and said it might be wishful thinking to have total democracy in HK. HK's fate in the future was not decided by political consciousness but by the question of sovereignty. Under the present set-up there was a limitation for the role played by public opinion in influencing Government's policy.
The HK Daily News said neither London nor Beijing would be interested in allowing HK to practise full democracy under the "HK people running HK" proposition. The basic principle to implement this proposal was that there should be an acceptable legal system which could be enforced effectively. It believed that, should the District Boards operate satisfactorily, the Government would introduce more democratic changes.
5.
AIRPORT PLAN:
The Financial Daily reported that China had, in principle, shelved the plan to build an international airport at Deep Bay. Instead, a study was now underway to examine the possibility of constructing an airport in Xi Xiang, northwest of Chi Wan logistics base for the South China Sea oil exploration. The paper said the plan was revealed by a Shenzhen delegation during their recent visit to HK. The Xi Xiang airport project which aimed at serving the South China Sea oil exploration had already been included in the Shenzhen outline zoning plan.
6:
FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN HK:
A GIS press release, which said foreign and joint-venture investment in HK's manufacturing industry expanded to an all-time record last year despite global recession, was prominently covered by the news media. The release was based on statistics supplied by the Industry Department which showed the accumulated total of these investments amounted to $9.5 billion by the end of 1982, up 10 pc over the 1981 figure, or more than double the amount three years ago. The investments consist of $7.5 billion by foreign interests and $2 billion by local partners in about 488 establishments, many of which employed highly sophisticated technologies. The release was the back page lead in several newspapers, including Wen Wei Po, which, in a short editorial, described the investments as a sign of confidence in the territory's future.
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