6
feel betrayed because they had accepted the Join t Declaration largely on the basis that a democratic and representative system of government would be in place before 1997.
Are we to take
it then that all the promises of democracy made to the people of Hong Kong and to the British Parliament in 1984 and 1985 should only be treated as history?
Breach of the Joint Declaration
(a)
(b)
By the Chinese Government
On 21st November 1985, Mr. Xu Jiatun, the director of the Xinhua News Agency in Hong Kong, gave his first press conference, during which he insinuated that the British Government h ad committed a breach of the Joint Declaration by attempting to introduce political reforms in Hong Kong and demanded that the two governments discuss the question of political reforms at the next Joint Liaison Group meeting then scheduled to take place in Beijing the following week. The British side complied after initial resistence. Since then, senior Chinese Government officials have repeatedly warned, in the strongest possible language, that Hong Kong must not introduce any major political changes until after the promulgation of the Basic Law in 1990; and that Hong Kong must not introduce direct elections in 1988. Such demands by China and the acquiescence by Britain are clearly opposed to täc spirit of the Joint Declaration, which specifies that the Joint Liaison Group will discuss matters related to the transition only after 1991. A summary of statements by officials from both governments as reported in the press is set out in Annex 3.
We believe that such statements made by Chinese officials are in clear breach of Clause 4 of the Joint Declaration which says specifically that "the Government of the United Kingdom will be responsible for the administration of Hong Kong" as well as in breach of paragraphs 4 and 5 of Annex II, on the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group.
By the British Government
Although the initial reactions of the British Government at the end of 1985 were that it would not be in accordance with Annex ΙΙ
of the Joint Declaration for the JLG to discuss matters relating to the political reforms in Hong Kong during the first half of the transitional period, the British Government has since given up arguing with Chinese Government on political reforms but has effectively capitulated. As for the Hong Kong Government, the public perception
is that it will not make any decision on political reforms without seeking the prior
approval
of the Chinese
the