FROM
PORRIGN SEC:
SPRRCH
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HONG KONG GEEBRAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCH - 15 JANUARY 1990
PORRIGN SECRETARY (CONTD):
The discussion on the Basic Law has stimulated interest in
how, constitutionally, Hong Kong will develop before 1997 - that is
a matter for decision by the British Government and the Government
of Hong Kong and as we take our decisions about this, we must take
full account of the way in which opinion has evolved in Hong Kong,
including in recent months, and we must do what we can to make sure
that our decisions match what this society is hoping for, aspiring
to.
Two things are certain, Ladies and Gentlemen, and perhaps not
fully yet grasped at any rate outside Hong Kong:
One thing is certain: that Hong Kong will achieve, from
1991, a momentous change in the way it is governed by taking this
first step to a directly-elected democracy so far as Hong Kong is
concerned.
The second thing is also certain: that these steps will be
bigger than was proposed originally by us only two years ago in the
White Paper of early 1988.
Those are two things which are certain and their significance
to the life of everybody living and working here is very great.
If possible, the system which we establish before 1997 should
be part of a process which will continue in the years thereafter;
that would be the best prize. We are. frankly, not interested in
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