with our policy of developing representative government in Hong Kong cautiously and in accordance with the wishes of the Hong Kong people. Progress will be formally reviewed by the Hong Kong Government next year.
At the same time the Chinese authorities are drafting the Basic Law setting out the policies which, in accordance with the terms of the Joint Declaration on Hong Kong's future, will be applied in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region after 1997.
You suggest that the Chinese Government is trying to restrict democratic development in Hong Kong. Such development is something for the British and Hong Kong Governments to handle in accordance with the wishes and needs of Hong Kong people. But it is obviously desirable that the system which is now evolving should be compatible with that which, under the provisions of the Joint Declaration, will be in place in 1997. There are encouraging signs that this compatibility can be secured. The Chinese authorities are consulting Hong Kong people very widely on the terms of the Basic Law Drafting Committee and through the Basic Law Consultative Committee which has been established in the territory. The first draft of the Basic Law will be published in 1988. Thus the Hong Kong Government's review of representative government, and the Chinese consultative process on the terms of the draft Basic Law, will go ahead in parallel, on both sides in consultation with a wide range of public opinion in Hong Kong. There are thus good conditions for achieving the compatibility which is desirable.
Yours
Tim
Tim Renton