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5. It concerns me that there are still no clear-cut arrangements as to how Hong Kong opinion will be tested in the period after the Green Paper is published. This is something the new Governor will have to set his mind to. If the process is not absolutely clear, there are dangers of an eventual muddle, with both the conflicting sides accusing us of producing the result we want in support of a preconceived decision.
6. I found it interesting, in this connection, that David Ford and others argued that whether Hong Kong has an element of direct elections or not is in fact an unimportant matter. 25% of directly elected Members in LegCo will not in the end make any difference. John Boyd thought that Hong Kong opinion was 80-20 against direct elections. But nonetheless it is the headline issue, and looks like remaining that.
7. As to changes in the top Hong Kong Administration, I think that John Boyd could stay on for a month or two after January if that would help the new Governor, but it would be a mistake for David Akers-Jones to be encouraged to stay on after June.
India
8.
Helped by a good team, I spent more than 10 hours discussing the Sikh problems and our Draft Extradition Treaty with the new Minister of State for External Affairs, Natwar Singh and his officials. The very fact that we were willing to go into endless detail and careful explanation of every incident the Indians brought up helped lance this troublesome boil. We ended
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