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CONFIDENTIAL
both sides. Sume
FROM:
What mus
CO Hum
i
3
media.
4
DATE:
Minak
12/
CC:
Mr McLaren
Hong Kong Department
12 February 1988 6 5 PS/Lord Glenarthur
Mr Gillmore
Mr
private secretary Soudang ? Bate, MI Meyerms Obstment
HONG KONG: THE WHITE PAPER AND THE WAY FORWARD
minuto
а
1. The White Paper has gone down fairly well in Hong Kong. The
first reports from Hong Kong suggest that most people consider it a reasonable and sensible compromise: they tend to agree that changes
to the political structure should be gradual and prudent. Hong Kong
media coverage was mixed. Most editorials were moderate and
positive: commentaries were less so. The strong disappointment
expressed by Mr Martin Lee and his followers has been effectively
counterbalanced by more positive statements from other LegCo
members. Mr Heath's public comments were notably restrained and
statesman-like.
!
2.
The reception here was more negative. I think we have to
recognise that the public and parliamentary consensus on Hong Kong
has been considerably shaken. Our policy will from now on come under closer and more hostile scrutiny, in Parliament and by the
media, than before.
3.
The
Our first task must be to continue taking every opportunity to
explain and defend our policy on representative government.
Hong Kong Government plan to do more through the Hong Kong
Government Office and visiting officials. But it will continue to
be an uphill task. The British media do not generally have sufficient knowledge to make a really thorough analytical assessment
of the situation. There is great resistance to the notion that Hong
Kong people might be genuinely divided over the timing of direct
elections; or to the suggestion that Hong Kong's return to China in
1997 might impose particular constraints on constitutional
development in Hong Kong before that date.
CONFIDENTIAL
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