R
CONFIDENTIAL
1 konen
For the 1995 LegCo elections, Mr Patten believes that we
should carry out our commitment to seek to persuade the
Chinese to accept more directly-elected members than the Basic
Law allows (20 out of 60): but, given that there is no
prospect of the Chinese agreeing to this we should use the
issue as a bargaining card and concentrate on other steps to
increase democracy which are not consistent with the Basic
Law (eg an Election Committee of directly-elected District
Board members to elect 10 LegCo members and radically enlarged
functional constituencies to elect 30). The Governor believes
that, in line with past commitments, we should consult the
Chinese about these proposals but, if we have not agreed them
by next spring, we should be ready to implement them
unilaterally.
and
it
The Foreign Secretary agrees with the Governor's approach: is a skilful balance in the face of conflicting pressures and
balar will provide a robust basis for Hong Kong's democratic development. He/plans to commend it to the Prime Minister and OPD (K) colleagues in a minute later this week. He hopes that
it will not be necessary to arrange collective discussion at an OPD (K) meeting (though I understand that there remains/a possibility of holding such a meeting on 15 September): a meeting would cause Mr Patten considerable/difficulty.
J S Smith
CONFIDENTIAL
pm.8sept/CONST/njc