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PRIME MINISTER
No. Conscription is not mentioned in the Agreement
and the Chinese Government have not suggested that there
would be conscription. I did not go into detail.
QUESTION
Mrs. Thatcher, how much importance do you set on
secret ballot in the electoral process and what significance
is there in the absence of any mention of this in the Agreement?
PRIME MINISTER
of
You will find that the Agreement goes into a good
deal of detail but I think not the full kind of detail which
you are seeking at the moment. Of course, I believe in a
secret ballot. We have to sort out developments in the
constitutional Government of Hong Kong between now and 1997.
Of course, we believe that democracy requires a secret ballot.
You will find the Agreement itself and during that
time, between now and 1997, we have the Joint Liaison Group,
and of course, the Agreement itself says that it expects the
whole structure of it...it expects the lifestyle of Hong Kong
to continue. But long before 1997 we have steadily and
securely to increase the amount of representation of local
people in the Government of Hong Kong.
QUESTION
Prime Minister, on Wednesday, you signed an agreement
with China promising to deliver over 5 million people into