09/30/91 11:47
202 898 4255
BRITISH EMB WASH
DRAFT LETTER
Your editorial on Hong Kong of 17 September gives a misleading
impression of the situation in Hong Kong, and the British
Government's policy towards it.
004/004
Contrary to your assertion, the British Government has not resisted
pressure for the introduction of direct elections over the last 40
years. The people of Hong Kong have been content with the
arrangements made for their representation in Hong Kong's
decision-making bodies. There have been direct elections to local
town councils in Hong Kong over the past 25 years. When direct
elections to the Legislative Council were first discussed in the
late 1980s, the Hong Kong Government's 1988 White Paper recommended
that the process start with 10 directly elected seats. Following
concerns about Hong Kong's future after the disturbances in Peking
in June 1989, the British Government pressed for an increase in
this number to the 18 directly elected seats which were contested
at last weekend's elections. This was only 2 short of the number
recommended by members of the Hong Kong Executive and Legislative
Councils in July 1989.
The fact is that 92% of Hong Kong must revert to China when the
lease expires in 1997. The remaining 8% is not viable on its own.
We have negotiated with the Chinese an arrangement which will
safeguard Hong Kong's capitalist system and way of life for at
least 50 years after 1997. That arrangement provides for the
progressive introduction of democracy in Hong Kong. The number of directly elected seats to the Legislative Council will increase in 1999 to 24, and to 30 in 2003, with the possibility of full direct elections thereafter. Our aims are to ensure that this steady progress is maintained, if not accelerated, up to and beyond the transfer of sovereignty in 1997.