from the Control of Publications Ordinance to the
Public Order Ordinance.
The provision is, therefore,
in no sense a new one and the result of the legislation passed on 11 March represents a major liberalisation compared with the position before 11 March.
Secondly, the provision to which you object replaces (with variations) a provision which has
been on the Hong Kong Statute Book since 1951. The
current bills were first published in the Hong Kong
Government Gazette on 19 December 1986. Thereafter
the measures were discussed extensively between the
administration and members of the Executive and
Legislative Councils. The draft bills were very fully debated in the Legislative Council on 11 March, when the implications of the measures on freedom
of speech in the territory were considered in detail. Both bills were thereafter passed by a large majority
of the Council.
We do not accept that this legislation presents
a threat to the freedom of speech or the Press in
Hong Kong and we do not see any case for the exercise
of the power of disallowance. This would be a serious
step which is without recent precedent, and which
arguably has undesirable implications in the context
of the high degree of autonomy that Hong Kong is
to enjoy after 1997 under Chinese sovereignty.
/I