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Hong Kong and to provide the opportunity for a parliamentary
debate. The options are:
(i)
to cease production of this Report on the grounds
(a) that its purpose has in the event been better met by the various recent debates on Hong Kong which have dealt with
specific matters of current concern (eg democracy, nationality); (b) that the material it contains is readily
available in other forms and (c) that it is therefore
essentially a redundant and time-consuming exercise;
(ii) to continue to report annually to Parliament but
in an alternative format which might comprise the text of
the Governor's annual address to LegCo, under cover of a
written Ministerial statement that might resemble a slightly
expanded version of the foreword which introduced the 1989 Annual Report.
This statement would concentrate on the main
current preoccupations of HMG relating to Hong Kong. However, the Governor has reservations about this approach,
for the reasons given in Hong Kong telno 3074.
(iii) to continue to report annually to Parliament along broadly the same lines as before but to aim to produce something considerably shorter, in particular by compressing
the sections dealing with matters relating to the day to day
and purely internal administration of Hong Kong. We could
retain last year's innovation of a Ministerial foreword, so
as to give the exercise a political spin.
8.
(iv) to continue with the status quo.
I do not believe that it would be realistic to
contemplate ceasing production of this Report. That would
send the wrong signals, both to Parliament and in Hong Kong. Retaining the present format would be the safest option. Despite the shortcomings mentioned above, there is no
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