SECRET
ASSESSMENT OF PRESENT OPINION
THE GOVERNOR
6.
It was stated in the 1984 White Paper that the Governor will continue to be appointed formally by The Queen until
this. strong public support for was
1997 and there
was
proposals any
for
The
the
White
said Paper
that
change in
position and the role of the
the Governor would need to take
into account the provisions of the Joint Declaration and it stated that these important issues would be considered at a later stage. There has been little comment in Hong Kong on the position of the Governor in general, except as President of the Legislative Council (see para 7 below), and his position is not expected to be raised except in that
context.
THE GOVERNOR AS PRESIDENT OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
7.
For
It was originally proposed (in the Green Paper of July 1984) that the Governor should be replaced, in due course, by a presiding officer elected by the unofficial members of the Legislative Council from among their own number. Such a change could be introduced progressively in two stages. example, the first presiding officer might be appointed by the Governor after consultation with the unofficial members of the Legislative Council, but thereafter the presiding officer might be elected by the members of the Legislative Council every 3 years. In the White Paper it was noted that although the proposal to replace the Governor as presiding
officer was, on the whole,
the reasonably well
well received
general view was in favour of making no significant change
in the immediate future.
8.
There is, however, a potential conflict, which has been commented on in the Press, between the role of Governor as Chief Executive and as President of the Council. As Chief
Executive
he
is
responsible
for
the
of policies
the
SECRET