And, in passing, may I remind the Hong Kong Government that both the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law refer to overseas judges on the Court of Final Appeal in the plural, not the singular.
Here are some other actions open to Mr Patten which do not offend the principle of convergence, while helping to build Chinese walls:-
Broadening the base of elections in functional constituencies;
lowering the voting age; establishing an independent boundary commission;
inviting independent international scrutiny of the 1995
elections;
updating Hong Kong's 'scandalously outdated electoral roll
and establishing a Human Rights Commission as a bolster to the Bill of Rights.
Finally, there is the question of membership of Exco.
Again I hope that Mr Patten will be bold.
I have heard the arguments put forward for complete separation of Exco and Legco - I am not convinced by them.
Of course there are problems relating to collective responsibility, but I don't believe that these are insoluble. After all, there are established practises in many coalition style Governments for dealing with these problems which could be followed, given good will.
The danger of excluding elected representatives from Exco is that it will encourage the view that electing pro-democracy moderates is a waste of time, and so encourage support for those with less welcome views.
In the absence of more convincing reasons for separation, many will be tempted to see this as the Martin Lee protocol - designed to exclude those who are currently unacceptable to the PRC.
If the PRC, after 1997 want to stop the through train in order to haul a few passengers off, that's up to them. We should not be assisting in the process.
October is going to be a momentous month for Hong Kong. The Governor's speech; MFN; 301 and the Governor's visit to Peking. By the time October finishes, Hong Kong will know much more about its future.
I wish you all well
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if there is anywhere I know of that deserves to continue to succeed, it is Hong Kong.
ENDS