CONFIDENTIAL
HKK
011
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY
14 OCT 1986
DESK OFFICER
Mr Hum, HKD INDEX
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PA
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14
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Hong Kong: Structure of Government
The Secretary of State has carefully considered your submission of 2 October, and the four attached papers. He is broadly content, and has made the following specific comments (in addition to those marked in manuscript) on the papers themselves.
The Secretary of State's present inclination is not to hand over a paper on direct elections at this stage, because to do so might risk overloading the circuit,
( whoever
we gave it to). The final decision on this will however need to be taken nearer the time, in the light of discussions with ExCo.
on
384
Paper B (Executive/Legislature) the Secretary of State thinks paragraph 14 should make it clearer that dissolution amounts not to extinction but to
resurrection.
On Paper C (Composition of Legislature) the Secretary of State sees a risk that the sequence
of paragraph 6, as now drafted, could alarm the Chinese. He has not taken a final view about whether the additional paragraph, about which the Governor has expressed doubts, is on balance reassuring or not.
It would be most helpful if you could look at these specific points, and let the Secretary of State see the papers again in his box to take to Bournemouth.
Robon (u
(R N Culshaw)
6 October 1986
cc. PS/PUS
Mr Fifoot, Deputy Legal Adviser
PS/Mr Renton
Dr Wilson
Mr Masefield, FED
CONFIDENTIAL
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