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FILE NOTE
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RECEIVED IN REGISTRY
14 AUG 1985
DESK OFFICIA
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CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN HONG KONG
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168)
BU to Mr Pomel
F....
3/9/55
1. Mr Hal Miller MP rang me on 13 August to discuss the paper submitted by Mr Cha Jimin to the Basic Law Drafting Committee which contains his proposals for the structure of government of
the SAR.
2. Mr Miller said
been well received.
that Mr Cha considered his paper to have
The Drafting Committee had circulated it
and he had spoken to it at the Drafting Committee meeting on 5 July. Mr Cha had three concerns:
a)
b)
c)
3.
he wanted to see stability preserved in Hong Kong. His proposal for
a council of advisers was designed to ensure
that a measure of appointments continued after the
institution of elections in Hong Kong;
he had proposed the creation of the post of Chief
Minister, separate from that of a "Governor" which would
continue to exist, in order to provide Hong Kong with a
high measure of autonomy in
would run its own affairs
1997.
those are as where the SAR
independent of Peking after
Those areas which we re to be the prerogative of
Peking (according to Cha diplomatic and defence affairs,
security, anti-corruption, civil service, and police) would remain in the province of the Governor;
Mr Cha was
concerned about how ideas such as his would be
taken into account in the 1987 review on constitutional
development.
Mr Miller said that Cha had made one other comment to him.
This was that although the idea of the council of advisers
might appear to be daft in western eyes, it was very Chinese.
It had its parallel in the Central Advisory Commission of the
Chinese
attempt
communist party, headed by Deng Xiaoping.
communist
It was an
to provide an acceptable form of Asian democracy. Mr
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