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14.
The Chinese Government have made it clear publicly that they see the administration, after 1997, as
being in the hands of Hong Kong people themselves. This would follow a process of development which I am
glad to say is already under way, and which I expect to evolve further. It is already the policy of the Hong
Kong Government to recruit its Civil Service overwhelmingly from Hong Kong people. This is having the effect
of increasing substantially the proportion of local officers holding high posts. During the years
immediately ahead, moreover, the Government of Hong Kong will also be developed on increasingly
representative lines. Already this year, the Hong Kong Government has announced proposals for an increase in
the proportion of elected members on District Boards and a new Regional Council for the New Territories on
the lines of the Urban Council, half of whose members are directly elected. Further proposals to develop the
representative status of the Executive and Legislative Councils will be published during the Summer.
In
15. Her Majesty's Government are working for a binding agreement in which arrangements for Hong Kong's
continuing prosperity and stability based on a substantial degree of autonomy would be formally recorded.
the sense that no international understanding can be guaranteed, there can be no absolute assurance of such
an agreement. Indeed I do not believe that, in the context of contemporary world affairs, it would be
realistic to try to impose an external regulator on the freedom of sovereign states. But history shows that
international obligations are most likely to be observed when they coincide with the common interests of both
parties. That would be the case over Hong Kong. We look for an agreement which would be recognised as
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