On 5th December 1984, Sir Geoffrey Howe moved for
acceptance by Parliament of the draft Agreement on the basis that
the "aim throughout the negotiations has been to secure an
agreement that would be acceptable to the people of Hong Kong"
(being a point on which "the House would certainly wish to be
satisfied") and that the draft Agreement presaged the
establishment of a
Hong Kong by 1997.
democratic and representative government in
He again dovetailed the Government's
proposals for democratising the existing governmental structure
with the blueprint for the future by saying:
"It would be too much to expect that this document,
which has emerged from extremely complex and sometimes
difficult negotiations, could provide the whole answer
to every problem. In some areas it will be necessary
elaborate the general principles set out in the
to
agreement.
arrangements
Hong Kong
One such area is the constitutional
and government structure of the future
special administrative region. In that
connection I welcome the White Paper on constitutional
development which has just been published by the Hong
Kong Government.
It provides for substantial
development towards representative institutions in the
1985 elections, and for the prospect of further
development in this direction following a further
review in 1987, which will consider also the question
of direct elections. At the same time it rightly
avoids sudden and dramatic changes, which could
unsettle the very stability that all our efforts are
designed to secure. I have already told the House that
we regard the next 12 years as crucial. We shall need
to achieve progress in constitutional development."
9