RESTRICTED
Students Union: "it is most essential that the people practise democracy and the government practises democracy" The form to be adopted had yet to be tried and tested. It could not be all capitalism and equally all the practises of socialism could not be adopted. The purpose of democratic open autonomy for Hong Kong was to ensure prosperity and stability.
9.
On 5 January Ji Pengfei spoke to Professor Mun Kin-chok of a proposed "three-thirds" system for a future elected legislative assembly (one third pro-Peking, one-third pro-British and one-third neutral). In an interview published in the Chinese magazine Liaowang on 6 January, Ji said that the officials for Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) would come from Hong Kong, not the mainland. The principal officials would be "produced" by means of consultations or elections among the people of Hong Kong and would be appointed by the Central People's Government. In April a group of Kaifong leaders were told that these would be elections and consultations when the time was ripe.
10. In his meeting with the URBCO group in April Ji said that in the first election of government organs (after 1997) the form of consultations would be used; in the second and third such elections, the method of democratic election could be used. This supposed that Hong Kong did not have a great deal of democracy during the transition period before 1997 and was not familiar with democratic elections. Otherwise the first election could also be done in a democratic way.
ELECTORATE
11.
On 5 January Ji Pengfei explained to Mun Kin-chok that Hong Kong people would be defined by referring to three categories:
a) 95 per cent as holders of Hong Kong passports or certificates of identity, being both residents and Chinese citizens would have the right to vote and stand for election, including the right to stand for election in China.
b) Chinese residents holding foreign nationalities who had lived and worked in Hong Kong for a long time would have the right to vote but not to stand for election.
c) Expatriate residents would not have the right to vote or stand for election, but their children could chose to be Hong Kong citizens if born in Hong Kong.
In April Chinese officials told the URBCO group there would two kinds of citizens:
a) Local Chinese with a Hong Kong passport. They would also be Chinese citizens and entitled to vote and be elected locally and in China.
b) Foreigners who had been resident seven years. They would only be able to vote and be elected locally.
RESTRICTED