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(b)
what arrangements might be made for seats now occupied in the Legislative Council by official and appointed members (para
17 of paper II).
5.
In connection with paragraph 4 above, the British side have
noted Mr Li Hou's comment to the Governor that it would be better
for the Basic Law to specify the number of seats in the legislature and the proportion of seats which would be allocated to the members produced by different methods. It is true that this would remove any uncertainty about
about what the system in the SAR after
the SAR after 1997 would
be; the disadvantage would be that the system would be inflexible
and could not be modified without an amendment to the Basic Law
itself. Hong Kong is a developing and changing society and the system of Government has been modified from time to time in order to
remain responsive to
to these changes and to the changing aspirations
of the community. It is very unlikely that any system, and particulary a new and largely untried system, could survive without change for a period of 50 years. It might therefore be more prudent
to follow, in the Basic Law,
the Basic Law, the model of Article 59 of the Chinese
constitution which stipulates, in connection with the National People's Congress, only that the number of deputies and the manner of their election should be prescribed by law.
6.
If it were concluded that this would not be sufficient and
that some more specific provision
essential to establish
procedure a
was required, it would seem
for changing the numbers and
proportions without the need to amend the Basic law itself.
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