D WONEN U LINZWU AT OUTCOME OF RECENT BASIC LAW DRAFT ING
COMMITTEE SUBGROUP MEETING IN CANTON?
What we are talking about are press reports of the outcome of a subgroup meeting. The subgroup's views will have to be put to a plenary of the Basic Law Drafting Committee next month.
We are obviously following discussions about the future political
structure very closely. We will continue to underline to the
Chinese the importance of a Basic Law which commands widespread
support in Hong Kong.
Your views of subgroup's proposal to restrict foreign nationals in
SAR legislation to maximum of 15%
Press reports do not give much detail about what is proposed. Chinese will need to clarify their intentions as soon as possible.
But such a provision seems to us unnecessarily restrictive and difficult to implement in practice. It is likely to be viewed with
concern in Hong Kong.
MELACF