F
CONFIDENTIAL COVERING SECRET
of State, given separately to Chinese officials by Dr Wilson, or not
handed over at all.
BACKGROUND
373
4.
set out
My submission of
of 12 September
a proposed course of
action to carry forward our informal dialogue with the Chinese on the future structure of government in Hong Kong. The Secretary of State duly spoke to Wu in New York on 23 September, and put him on notice that further papers would be handed over in Peking during
the State Visit. We have consulted Hong Kong in detail about the
material to be handed over, and the attached papers represent the
outcome of these consultations.
A
"Issues connected with the Question of Convergence"
5. This paper introduces the next two. It also picks up a comment made by Li Hou to the Governor in Peking, that it would be better for
the Basic Law to specify the proportion of seats in the SAR legislature which would be allocated to the members produced by different methods of election. The paper suggests that it would be more prudent for the Basic Law to provide some machinery whereby the
numbers or proportion of seats could be changed without an
amendment to the Basic Law itself.
B
"The Relationship between the Executive and the Legislature"
6.
This paper describes the working of
working of the present relationship between ExCo and LegCo. It points out the advantages of continuing
to have some common membership between the successors of the two councils in the SAR. This is designed to counter Chinese thinking, revealed in BLDC discussions, that complete separation of powers and institutions would be advantageous. The paper also addresses the questions of who should have the initiative in presenting proposals for legislation and the commitment of funds; and the power of dissolution of the legislature.
CONFIDENTIAL CONVERING SECRET
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