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PRIME MINISTER
SECRET
HONG KONG: CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Chris Patten has been considering the way forward on constitutional development in Hong Kong, and has sent us his proposals. He will need to describe his approach when he addresses the Legislative Council (LegCo) on 7 October.
I enclose an annex setting out his detailed proposals, and the latest draft of this part of his LegCo speech. I discussed the issues with him in Hong Kong in July, and the Minister of State (Mr Goodlad) has recently worked closely there with him
on content and tactics.
Hong Kong has changed rapidly in recent years. There is much more political awareness. Chris Patten has concluded that changes are needed to the constitutional arrangements to bring them into line with the territory's requirements at this stage of its political development. He has developed a
package of measures which:
meet the needs of public administration in Hong Kong; make the electoral system more democratic and fair; exploit to the full the flexibility available within the Basic Law while staying within its terms.
honkoncondev.con.be
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