CONFIDENTIAL
170535
MDLIAN 3556,
5.
SEVERAL PERSONS RESPONDED TO RADIO INTERVIEWS AFTER THE DEBATE.
THEY INCLUDE LYDIA DUNN, WHO SAID THAT SIR GEOFFREY'S REMARK ON A TIMETABLE FOR THE INTRODUCTION OF DIRECT ELECTIONS WAS VERY
REASSURING. SHE ALSO SAID THAT SHE WAS VERY IMPRESSED BY THE
ATTENDANCE OF THE DEBATE AND THAT THE COMMENTS MADE HAD SHOWN DEPTH OF UNDERSTANDING OF HK. SHE WAS GLAD THAT THERE CONTINUED TO BE
PARLIAMENTARY INTEREST IN HK. MARTIN LEE SAID HE WAS UPSET THAT SOME MPS HAD WASTED TIME IN MAKING PERSONAL ATTACKS ON HIM. HE ALSO QUESTIONED WHY THE DEBATE WAS LIMITED TO JUST THREE HOURS. IF MORE
TIME WAS GIVEN, HE SAID, THE DEBATE WOULD SHOW A CLEAR MAJORITY IN FAVOUR OF DIRECT ELECTIONS IN 1988. A CHINESE UNIVERSITY LECTURER JOSEPH CHENG SAID THAT HE DID NOT THINK THE DEBATE WOULD
INFLUENCE THE CONTENTS OF THE WHITE PAPER, BUT HE EXPECTED THAT A TIMETABLE FOR THE INTRODUCTION OF DIRECT ELECTIONS WOULD BE
CONTAINED IN THE WHITE PAPER, AND THAT DIRECT ELECTIONS WOULD BE CARRIED OUT IN 1991. POLITICAL COMMENTATOR MARGARET NG ALSO SAID
THE STAND OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT WAS RATHER FIRM AND THAT IT
WAS UNLIKELY THAT THE DEBATE WOULD INFLUENCE THE CONTENTS OF THE
WHITE PAPER.
6. NO DOUBT THE CONTENTS OF THE DEBATE ARE STILL THE MEDIA AND THE PUBLIC. WE WILL REPORT FURTHER
WILSON
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