GRS 450
SECRET
FM HONG KONG
TO IMMEDIATE FCO
TELNO 1554
OF 230715Z APRIL 87
INFO IMMEDIATE PEKING
Secret
TOP COPY Q DIST?
RESTRICTED: BASIC LAW:
LLS OF W
нів
22 APR 1907
0113
P
OUR TELNO. 1539: HONG KONG AGREEMENT:
BLDC FOURTH PLENUM
1
FURTHER TO TUR, WE HAVE NOW GONE THROUGH THE SPEECHES AND DISCUSSION
NOTES PASSED TO US BY OUR INTERLOCUTORS. TWO SPEECHES BY MAINLAND
3LDC MEMBERS. DELIVERED AT THE CONCLUDING SESSION OF THE PLENUM,
CONTAINED IMPORTANT POINTS WHICH ARE SUMMARIZED BELOW. THESE
SPEECHES ARE SIGNIFICANT, BECAUSE THEY WERE RECORDED VERBATIM AND
WERE IDENTIFIED WITH THE SPEAKERS, AND BECAUSE THEY WERE DELIVERED
AFTER 4 DAYS OF DISCUSSIONS (AND PRESUMABLY IN LIGHT OF A VARIETY OF
VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THESE DISCUSSIONS).
XU CHONGDE'S SPEECH
2. XU'S SPEECH DEALT WITH TWO ISSUES: FIRST, THE UNAMENDABILITY OF
CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF THE BASIC LAW FOR 50 YEARS AND, SECONDLY, THE
RIGHT TO PROPOSE AMENDMENTS TO THE BASIC LAW. ON THE FIRST ISSUE,
XU SUGGESTED THAT THE RELEVANT BL PROVISION SHOULD BE REDRAFTED AS
FOLLOWS (TRANSLATION) :
'' THE GUIDING PRINCIPLES AND POLICIES STIPULATED IN THIS (1.E. THE
BASIC) LAW AND CONFIRMED IN THE SINO-BRITISH JOINT DECLARATION'
SHALL NOT BE AMENDED FOR 50 YEARS WITH EFFECT FROM THE COMING INTO
FORCE OF THIS LAW.''
ALTHOUGH THE LANGUAGE COULD BE IMPROVED UPON, IT APPEARS TO BE ON
THE RIGHT LINES, AND IS THE BEST FORMULATION SO FAR SUGGESTED BY A
MAINLAND MEMBER. IT ALSO ACHIEVES THE PRACTICAL OBJECTIVE OF OUR
PROPOSAL TO INSERT IN THE PREAMBLE A CLEAR LINKAGE BETWEEN THE JD
AND THE BL. XU ALSO EXPLAINED THAT THIS DID NOT MEAN THAT THE
DETAILED WORDINGS OF THE RELEVANT BL ARTICLES COULD NOT BE AMENDED,
BUT THAT THE PRINCIPLES THEY EMBRACED OUGHT NOT BE CHANGED. OUR
FIRST THOUGHT IS THAT XU'S FORMULATION IS WORTH PURSUING.
3. AS REGARDS THE SECOND ISSUE, XU PROPOSED THAT, INSOFAR AS MPC
DELEGATES WOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO PROPOSE AMENDMENTS TO THE BASIC
LAW, THIS RIGHT SHOULD BE RESTRICTED TO THE NPC DELEGATION FROM
HONG KONG. THIS, THOUGH A LESS IMPORTANT POINT, IS AN IMPROVEMENT
ON THE RELEVANT PART OF THE EXISTING ARTICLE 3 OF CHAPTER IX.
Secret
|WU
1967
A 1