SECRET
GOVERNMENT HOUSE
香港總督府
HONG KONG
1 March 1988
Sir,
1.
The Development of Representative Government
in Hong Kong: The 1988 White Paper
When I arrived in Hong Kong in April last year,
one of the first tasks I faced was the imminent publication of a promised Green Paper on the further development of the system of representative government. I have described the background in a separate despatch.
2.
By April 1987 we faced a situation with the following ingredients:
(a)
(b)
(c)
a promise derived from the 1984 White Paper to hold a review in 1987 which would cover, inter alia, the issue of direct elections to the Legislative Council and the position of the Governor as President of the Council;
a China increasingly strident in opposing any early move on direct elections, particularly before the publication of the Basic Law in 1990 and privately opposed to the holding of a review at all;
and
an increasingly vociferous lobby in Hong Kong pressing for the introduction of direct elections in 1988 and quick to seize on any sign of what could be represented as Chinese interference or as weakness on the part of the Hong Kong and British Governments in standing up for Hong Kong interests against pressure from China.
The Rt Hon Sir Geoffrey Howe QC MP
Secretary of State for Foreign and
Commonwealth Affairs
Foreign & Commonwealth Office London SW1A 2AH
SECRET
/The Green Paper
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