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(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
an independent commission is almost equally problematical. There may be some pressure from Parliament for such an arrangement but the Chinese would certainly regard any Pearce style commission as outside interference in the Hong Kong issue and seek to frustrate its work. It would also be open to manipulation in Hong Kong by vociferous minority groups;
a public debate over a period of one or more months in representative and semi-representative bodies in Hong Kong as well as at grass-roots level would produce a reasonable reflection of public attitudes and might be less likely to provoke interference from the Chinese. The Chinese would almost certainly still object on the grounds that it was not for the British to conduct any consultative process in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, the UK and particularly in Parliament such a process might be open to criticism on the grounds that the present system in Hong Kong, however actively and carefully operated, is still not fully elective or fully democratic. criticism on this score would probably be kept within acceptable bounds if the debate was conducted through a wide enough range of channels;
But
a passive sounding of public opinion would be less provocative to the Chinese but by the same token less credible as a means of gaining a clearer and authoritative picture of the views of the people of Hong Kong. It would be more difficult to demonstrate to Parliament that we had fully consulted the people of Hong Kong and any assessment of public opinion would be more open to question;
a mixture of (d) and (e) would provide a fairly wide sounding, although it would still be open to the criticism that it was
unrepresentative;
7. If a combination of options (d) and (e) was employed, careful consideration would need to be given to the type of explanatory or commendatory statement which might accompany the publication of the draft agreement on Hong Kong's future. It would be highly desirable to ensure that public opinion in Hong Kong understood the constraint
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