PERSONAL
As you may know, we have been conducting a detailed confidential dialogue with the Chinese about the draft. Many of our suggestions are already reflected in the draft, which we think is shaping up well. There remain however a number of areas of difficulty, about which people in Hong Kong have understandably expressed concern. These are:
whether the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region will enjoy a high degree of autonomy after 1997;
the balance of power between the central authorities and the HKSAR, particularly in the judicial and legislative fields;
provisions for the protection of human rights and basic freedoms in the draft;
the provisions on the economy in the draft which, while desirable in themselves, are widely considered to be inappropriate in a constitutional document of this kind;
the interpretation of the Basic Law;
the political system of the HKSAR.
PERSONAL
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