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ISSUES CONNECTED WITH THE QUESTION OF CONVERGENCE
1.
papers.
On 23 May Sir Geoffrey Howe gave to Foreign Minister Wu three
II dealt specifically with the question
further during
convergence,
Paper
and
these issues were discussed
of
the
On
visit of the Governor of Hong Kong to Peking on 1 September.
23 September, Sir Geoffrey Howe told Foreign Minister Wu that the
British side would like to offer further comments on some of the
issues involved. These are contained in the attached notes.
2.
in
The first leads on from paragraph 18 of paper II. it deals
with how the transition might be made between a system in
a system in which the
Governor has responsibility for the direction of the government
Hong Kong to a system under which a Chief Executive would assume responsibility in the Hong Kong SAR on 1 July 1997.
3.
The second paper deals with the relationship between the
executive and the legislature. It describes the advantages of the
working partnership which now exists between the Executive Council and Legislative Council in Hong Kong and the desirability of retaining this partnership in terms of efficient administration and of producing legislation acceptable within the community in Hong Kong. It notes that it is very unlikely that these advantages could survive the complete separation of both the powers and membership of the two councils in any future system.
4.
The third note follows from paragraphs 15 and 16 of paper II. It does not seek to deal with the size of the legislature after 1997 nor with the proportion of seats which might be allocated to various
categories of members. It offers comment on:
(a)
direct
qualification
some practical issues regarding the conduct of elections (electoral machinery, registration,
of candidates, etc); and
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