Redacted under FOI Exemption S 27(1)

| CONFIDENTIAL |

(14)

better than we had anticipated. We have passed to the Chinese a series of papers on various aspects: they have accepted and even welcomed our involvement. We hope this will help to fashion a Basic

Law acceptable and appropriate to Hong Kong.

28.

We have made less headway over the 1987 review.

And we have sought

to reassure Hong Kong opinion that the 1987 review will be a genuine and open one, which we are approaching without preconceived ideas.

Prospects

30.

Many people in Hong Kong will continue to argue for a very

cautious and gradualist approach to

the development of

representative government. However the past two or three years have seen the emergence of a more political element in the Hong Kong community, who criticise what they see as a perpetuation of

undesirable colonial features in the present system of government.

They have taken the lead in demanding a faster

constitutional change and in

an element of direct

particular

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