i
Hong Kong currently awaits the White Paper on political
reforms, which is expected to be released on 10th February 1988.
It has been reported that the draft of the White Paper says that,
since
is there
of direct consensus on the timing
their introduction
elections,
no
clear
should be deferred for several
years.
on
Using the argument that "public opinion is divided
of direct election in the timing" to withhold the introduction
Hong Kong in 1988 is fallacious. The argument can be valid only
Paper can demonstrate that the public
if the White
favours
another year over 1988. To date, all polls show that 1988 is far
preferred over any other year in the decade leading up to 1997. Accordingly, it is only logical that direct elections should be
introduced this year. Refusing to hold them in 1988 means,
logically, that they should not be held in any other year either.
That can only lead to denying permanently the 5.5 million people
of Hong Kong the right to elect their legislators.
Glenarthur has
tried
but
So long as Britain persists in denying the people of
Hong Kong their right to have a representative government, she
cannot
failed to do, that her "intention to proceed with development of
representative government remains unchanged".
convincingly, argue
as
Lord
There has always existed an instinctive, usually
unarticulated fear at the back of Hong Kong people's minds
(reinforced by a deep-seated traditional Chinese cynicism towards
political norms and institutions) that a politican's rhetoric,
especially one made in a metropolitan capital some 8,000 miles
away, is to be taken with more than the usual pinch of salt,
that
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