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#2
It
to be some criticism that we should have gone further. will be important to make our case quickly and effectively to Members and Peers who take an interest in Hong Kong as well as to the media. Many in Westminster will take their cue from reactions in Hong Kong. The Governor will sell his proposals vigorously in Hong Kong after his LegCo speech, and will do an extensive lobbying round during his visit here in
November.
11.
It will almost
The Chinese will find a number of the proposals very hard to swallow. We are committed to consulting them on the arrangements for the 1995 elections (this was part of the deal whereby the Chinese agreed to include the through train concept in the Basic Law). We do not regard ourselves as committed to reaching agreement with them on all aspects (although the Chinese will claim that we are). certainly be impossible to agree a number of the proposals with the Chinese: the functional constituencies and election committee will be particularly difficult. We must avoid being sucked into an endless negotiation, and in practice we shall not be able to change the proposals substantially once the Governor has announced them. We should therefore tell the Chinese that we are prepared to discuss our ideas seriously with them, but that if proper arrangements are to be made for the 1995 elections (and the 1994 District Board elections which are part of the same sequence) it will be necessary to draw the discussions to a close by next spring by the latest; and that if agreement has not been reached by then, we shall need to make our own dispositions and face the possibility of a change in 1997.
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