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(c)
Confirmation that HMG will remain constitutionally responsible
for Hong Kong, and that the Hong Kong Government will continue to
administer the territory effectively, up to 1997.
7.
It is proposed that, in Hong Kong, the White Paper and the text
of the Governor's statement to the Legislative Council should be
handled as follows:
(a) They would be distributed by the Hong Kong Government to the
Urban Council and all District Boards with an invitation to these
bodies to make known their views. To accommodate Chinese
sensitivities these bodies would not be explicitly invited to debate
the issue formally, although in practice they would almost certainly
do so;
(b) Copies would be sent to selected representative and semi-representative bodies (including trade and industrial associations, professional and academic bodies and other groups and
organisations of standing in the community) with an invitation to
comment. The selection should be sufficiently wide to ensure that
all important sectors are covered and that this part of the
consultation process will be seen as credible. It is envisaged that
that number of bodies might range from 100 to 500 depending on the
kinds of organisation chosen for active targeting rather than the
passive approach under (d);
(c)
The documents would be debated in the Legislative Council;
(a) The documents would be given wide publicity through the mass
media and copies would be made available in all government offices
for free distribution to the general public, who would be invited to
comment;
(e) The Government machine as a whole would be mobilised to convey
the necessary messages and explanations to the public at large, to
support the commendation in the White Paper and to receive comments.
Representative bodies and the general public would be free to
comment on any aspect of the draft agreement. The invitation to
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