dup's lett
Foreign & Commonwealth
Office
©
18 December 1992
Martin Redmond Esq MP
House of Commons
London
SWLA OAA
MAN 236/2
нив
Dea harti
London SW1A 2AH
From The Minister of State
-шы
~1/12
Soon I letter auch
PSIGH Hary Kay (by fox)
Miss Jafylde 21) (2
Thank you for your letter of 1 December to Douglas Hurd about Hong Kong.
I was very surprised to see you describe Mr Patten's proposals as "strong arm methods of diplomacy". That is certainly not the view of the people of Hong Kong who continue to support Mr Patten's approach by a margin of 2:1 according to recent polls. Nor is it the view of front-bench spokesmen of your own party. As Mr Allan Rogers put it during FCO Questions in the House on
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25 November, there is much support within the House for the proposals, which extend the democratic process in Hong Kong.
Mr Patten's proposals respond to the clearly-expressed wish of the people of Hong Kong for a greater say in the running of their own affairs. By any standards they are modest. They propose an extension of democracy which falls well within the evolutionary process envisaged in the Sino-British Declaration of 1984, and which does not contravene the Basic Law. Mr Patten has made it very clear these are proposals, not firm decisions. We briefed the Chinese before they were announced, and we have said we are ready at any time to talk to the Chinese Government about arrangements for the 1995 Legislative Council elections. We are ready to discuss any alternative ideas they may have, provided that these would also result in elections in 1995 which are fair, and acceptable to the people of Hong Kong.
I very much admire the skills and enterprise of the business community in Hong Kong, and the enormous success they have made of forging links with China. But, it is China's strident public campaign, not the proposals
/themselves