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the 'preliminary opinion', which was signed by fewer people, is simple. Both were released before the Special Group on the Political
System held its meeting in Xiamen, obviously in the hope that the
Special Group would discuss both papers and that the mainland members
of the Basic Law Drafting Committee (BLDC) would select one from the
twa. Of the two, the BLDC member should prefer the 'proposal' to
the preliminary opinion'.
Nobody knows if it is a coincidence or a pre-arranged
move but it cannot be ruled out that somebody has stepped up effort
to feel the Chinese side out and to seek its bottom line with the
hope of convergence at an early date.
Of course, it is useful and constructive to prepare written
papers on the political system and put forward concrete opinion for
discussion. Some members of the Special Group on the Political
System have not made their position clear and have tried to pander what? X or Y? to both sides. In a good sense, this facilitates communication
between the Chinese and the British.
Consensus reached in the meeting held in Xiamen by
the Special Group on the Political System
Under the influence of the 'proposal' and 'preliminary opinion',
consensus was reached by the Special Group on the Political System
in the Xiamen meeting. There was no objection to the separation of the
three powers (executive, legislative and judicial) and the principle
of mutual checks and balances. However, whether the system should be
led by the legislature or whether the executive should have more
independent powers remained controversial.
It has been suggested that bills on policies should in
future be enacted by the legislature. The is a question of whether
the executive has the power to decide on policies and the
greatest divergence of opinion. was here.