OECRETLY
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18.
We do not believe that there is any evidence
to show that the confidentiality factor had a damaging
effect on the assessment task as a whole; but we also
take the view that the public concern about confidentiality
could have been avoided, and that the assurances and safeguards
announced in mid-October should have been publicly conveyed
at an earlier stage through the Assessment Office advertisement
and in other ways.
19.
To judge how accurately the Assessment Office
discharged its duties has been the most important part
of our task. As the letters and submissions were received,
we were able to satisfy ourselves that they were accurately
analysed and assessed by the Assessment Office. We have
now considered the overall assessment of the extent of
acceptance set out in Chapter 3 of the Assessment Office
report, and we unreservedly endorse the conclusion in
paragraph 3.1 that "most of the people of Hong Kong find
the draft agreement acceptable".
20.
But a judgment on the accuracy of a matter as
complex as the views of the people of Hong Kong cannot
be left at that. As Chapter 3 illustrates, an accurate
assessment of "the extent of acceptance by the people
of Hong Kong" involves a great deal more than a simple
aggregation of the responses received from the many
organisations and individuals that submitted their views;
and we have been impressed by the quality of the detailed
analysis of views and surveys which the Assessment Office has made in the short time available for preparing its
report. Our only concern is that the succinct general conclusion in paragraph 3.1 and the subsequent paragraphs
of detailed analysis may not readily convey the total