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THE TERRITORY. MARTIN LEE AND SZETO WAH SAID THAT CHINA'S STRONG OPPOSITION TO THE BILL WOULD DEAL ANOTHER BLOW TO HK PEOPLE'S CONFIDENCE IN THE FUTURE OF THE TERRITORY.
5.
BASIC LAW HK DRAFTER AND NPC MEMBER LIU YIU-CHU AND VICTOR SIT OF HKU BOTH SAID THAT THE NATIONALITY PACKAGE WOULD ADVERSELY AFFECT HK IN ITS ATTEMPT TO ATTAIN A SMOOTH TRANSITION, WEN WEI PO (21.4) REPORTED. BOTH STRESSED THAT TO SAFEGUARD HK'S INTERESTS, THE TERRITORY SHOULD BE ADMINISTERED BY HK PEOPLE WHO GENUINELY WANTED TO TAKE UP THAT ROLE. HK COULD NOT REPLY ON PEOPLE WHO HAD BRITISH RIGHT OF ABODE TO RUN THE TERRITORY.
6. A NUMBER OF PAPERS (21-24.4) COMMENTED ON THE NATIONALITY BILL. WEN WEI PO (21.4) WONDERED WHETHER THE BILL WOULD REALLY BENEFIT HK. TWO OTHER PRO-PEKING PAPERS, THE HK COMMERCIAL DAILY AND THE NEW EVENING POST (21.4), SAID THAT CHINA MIGHT TAKE A TOUGH STAND ON THE ISSUE. MOST INDEPENDENT PAPERS CALLED ON BOTH BRITAIN AND CHINA TO SORT OUT THEIR DIFFERENCES OVER THE ISSUE BECAUSE TENSE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES WOULD AFFECT HK PEOPLE'S CONFIDENCE IN THE TERRITORY.
1991 ELECTIONS
7. THE 170 000-STRONG PRO-PEKING FEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONS HAD DECIDED TO ACTIVELY TAKE PART IN THE 1991 DIRECT ELECTIONS, THE PAPERS (23.4) REPORTED IN PROMINENTLY COVERAGE, QUOTING ITS PRESIDENT, CHENG YIU-TONG. CHENG SAID HE SAID THAT IF THE FEDERATION COULD NOT FIND THE RIGHT CANDIDATES FOR THE ELECTIONS, IT WOULD SUPPORT THOSE CANDIDATES FROM OTHER POLITICAL GROUPS WHOSE POLITICAL PLATFORM WAS SIMILAR TO THAT OF THE FEDERATION.
8.
THE MEDIA (24.4) ACCORDED PROMINENT COVERAGE TO THE INAUGURATION CEREMONY OF THE UNITED DEMOCRATS OF HK. THE CHAIRMAN OF THE NEW POLITICAL GROUP, MARTIN LEE, LEE CALLED ON HK PEOPLE TO ACTIVELY TAKE PART IN THE 1991 DIRECT ELECTIONS SO THAT HK WOULD NOT BE RUN BY ONLY A HANDFUL OF PEOPLE. HE DENIED REPORTS THAT HIS POLITICAL GROUP HAD RECEIVED FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FROM TAIWAN. WHEN ASKED TO COMMENT ON THE DECISION OF THE FEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONS TO TAKE PART IN THE 1991 ELECTIONS, MR LEE SAID THAT IT WAS A GOOD THING FOR LEFT-WING GROUPS IN HK TO PARTICIPATE IN THE ELECTIONS.
JLG MEETINGS
9.
THE CURRENT ROUND OF THE JLG TALKS, WHICH WOULD START ON APRIL
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