District Board chairmen.
District Boards now play a prominent role
in Hong Kong as vehicles for the expression of local opinion. Hong
Kong does not have political parties of any significance but there
are groupings of articulate citizens. Special interest groups (usually called "pressure groups") are an established feature of the
local political scene. They are articulate and vocal: but, as in
other places, they are not necessarily as representative of public
opinion in general, ev en on the issues on which they speak, as the amount of publicity they receive might suggest.
There are strongly
conservative groupings of business leaders and of the older
generation who share Chinese reservations on the pace of
"democratisation".
NCNA
12. Mr Renton will meet Mr Xu Jiatun, Director of
Director of the New China
News Agency, at the Government House dinner. The New China News
Agency plays the role of China's unofficial representative in Hong
Kong. Mr Xu is a senior member of the Chinese Communist party.
THE MEDIA
13. Mr Renton will give a press conference before departure.
effort will be made to concentrate
that engagement.
Every
the attention of the press on
But the Hong Kong media are adept at "door
arrival and departure at
and on district visits.
stepping" distinguished visitors on
engagements outside Government House,
Although care will need to be tak en not to preemp the
conference a short comment relating to the programme
ma in
press
it em just
completed can help to ensure wider coverage, particularly television
coverage, of the visit.