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Agreement with the Chinese on arrangements for the 1995
elections is a very remote possibility.
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But some amendment of the
proposals for the Election Committee and/or the Functional
Constituencies on the basis of ideas from Hong Kong groups, could help to get the package through LegCo. It might also mute the
Chinese opposition to the 1995 elections somewhat, although we
should not overestimate the chances of that.
A meeting between me and the Chinese Foreign Minister, Qian Qichen, might help at the right moment. I plan to see Qian for the
next of our six-monthly sessions in March. The Chinese could well
propose an earlier meeting. If they did so, it would be hard to
hove ku ndimtme
wnow
An earlier meeting would a
refuse, enable the Governor to could) reassure LegCo, in putting his proposals to them in the first part
of next year, that we had left no stone unturned in the search for
agreement.
We should not forget that we hold some cards of our own in dealing with the Chinese over Hong Kong:
the Governor's popularity with people in Hong Kong, and the widespread support at grassroots level (according to the opinion polls) for his proposals;
China's interest in continued cooperation with us, for
example on the commercial/financial area and in ensuring continuity
in the Civil Service;
our influence in Washington, where the Governor's proposals have attracted widespread support and where he and we will be
lobbying for the maintenance of MFN status for China (but the
Chinese know that we will be doing this for Hong Kong's sake, not theirs);
more generally, the support for the Governor's approach
cab.off.SA
SLM