CONFIDENTIAL
CALL BY THE RT HON SIR PATRICK NAIRNE, 29 NOVEMBER
POINTS TO MAKE
1. Grateful to you for having undertaken task of Monitor and for having carried it out so thoroughly and with such dedication.
Obvious from your report that you and Mr Justice Li worked extremely hard, checking work of the Assessment Office in all its aspects and attending a considerable number of meetings of representative
bodies. Important that you were able to witness all these aspects
of the exercise of consultation.
2.
We welcome your conclusion that the Office did perform its task
properly, accurately and impartially, and your clear endorsement of
the conclusion in the Assessment Office's report that most of the
people of Hong Kong find the draft agreement acceptable.
3.
Understand from your report that you and Judge Li feel that
more could have been done at an earlier stage to explain and to
assert the importance of consulting the views of the people of
Hong Kong. We did seek to do this i in Secretary of State's statement in Hong Kong on 1 August and again in House of Commons on 25
October. The Governor did the same, with our encouragement, in his statement presenting the draft agreement to LEGCO on 25 September.
Possibly we should have done more.
4. Glad that in report you were able to defend Assessment Office
against unjustified criticism and make it clear that many Hong Kong people did not share the view of a small minority that the
assessment process was a "farce".
5. Also take the point in your report that public concern in
Hong Kong about confidentiality of submissions to Office could have
been avoided by earlier decision to destroy all letters from
individuals.
In retrospect agree with you, but note you do not
believe it had significant effect on outcome of assessment process.
As you say in your report, the report of the Assessment Office has shown that the people of Hong Kong have concerns and
6.
CONFIDENT I AL
POINTS TO NAKE