HOUSE OF COMMONS LONDON SWIA OAA
The Hon. Francis Maude
oreign and Commonwealth Off of.
Whitehall,
LONDON, SW1A 2AH
9th July, 1990.
vhi...
Der Francis
Thank you for your letter dated 29th June on the subject of Civil Liberties in Hong Kong in which you put forward the excuse of sub judice for not sending a specific reply. However, you also leave unanswered my general point that you should reconsider the laws in Hong Kong which, in my opinion, will make it extremely
I think these difficult to conduct a proper election campaign. need to be reviewed and, where necessary, repealed quickly and certainly before the campaign for direct elections to Omeico Legi takes place in 1991. I imagine there are quite a number of laws on the statute book in Hong Kong designed to suppress campaigning for any particular point of view because there have been times of tension there in the past when it was thought necessary to control such activity for fear of starting riotous behaviour. As a young naval officer in 1955 I was required to help the Civil Authorities to quell such a riot and I am well aware why such laws are in existence but I do think the case brought to our attention by the Catholic Institute for International Relations points to the need for a total revision so that they are compatible with the democratic society we are trying to create.
Yous
Bower
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Vice a..
BOWEN WELLS, MP
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PsAlli Mäude.
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