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CONFIDENTIAL
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.
29.
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.
a very
Many people in Hong Kong will continue to argue for
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 pace of constitutional change and in particular an
element of direct
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