28-OCT-1992 17:41
A.G.'S CHAMBERS
+852 877 2130
P.27
Annex H
Statement by
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in the House of Commons on February 16, 1990
on Constitutional Development in Hong Kong
make a
Kong.
With your permission, Mz Speaker, I should like to statement about constitutional development in Hong
When I came back from Hong Kong on 17 January, I tola the House that I hoped to be able to announce a decision on the introduction of direct elections to the
Hong Kong legislature in 1991 in a matter of weeks. In view of intense press speculation in the last few days, I
have decided to make the announcement now.
At
the time of the signing of the Joint
Declaration in 1984, there was no elected element of any kind in the legislature. In February 1988, the Hong Kong Government announced that 10 directly elected seats would be introduced in 1991.
It has been clear for some time
of
progress.
new
WHIL
ងងដ * แบ
lapių Late
The question we have had to decide is what starting point would be right. We wish to establish in Hong Kong, before 1997, a system of government which includes from the outset a substantial element of democracy, and which can endure and further develop after 1997. That is what Hong Kong wants, and that would be the best outcome for the territory.
we
set
If the outcome is to be achieved, the start which make in 1991 must be carried through in the arrangements out in the Basic Law. With this objective in mind, we