852 521 7725 P.2/11
1992-01-03 14:17 INFORMATION SERVICES DEPT
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Jardines: In an interview with the HK Economic Journal, Sir Charles Powell of Jardines Holdings denied that the company had spearheaded a campaign tḥ "dump the Governor".
Sir Charles entÀ that Str David
Wilson was an old friend of his and he considered that Sir David was
competent.
Councillors: Media reports noted that the United Democrats had discussed among themselves the successor to Sir David Wilson. Martin Lee said after the meeting that he hoped that the new Governor would put HK's interests first, defend the Joint Declaration and push for greater democracy, Yeung Sum said on R-3 this morning that the Democrats would be urging fellow councillors not to concentrate on possible appointees for the next Governor, but stress much wider aspects. On the need for Legco to discuss the qualifications of the new Governor, Vincent Cheng considered that there was no need to waste Lime on the issue. Edward Ho said it would be good to discuss the qualifications in general while Federick Fung did not oppose such
he would discussions, but added that whoever became the next Governor, be putting British interests first.
Other views: Visiting Conservative MP Sir John Wheeler said that Britain had ignored HK by abruptly announcing the change of Governor. He said that there was no need for Legco to discuss the next Governor, The next Governor should have a five-year term to ensure continuity. Meanwhile, Sing Teo Daily said that the change of Governor had drawn attention to the selection of the first Chief Executive for the SAR. The paper said that legislator David Li had been widely tipped to become the first Chief Executive. The paper also reported that NPC HK delegate Liu Yiu-chu opposed having a local person with a British passport as the next Governor,
Chinese side: NCNA HK vice director Zhang Junsheng was widely quoted as saying that the retirement of Sir David Wilson would not affect the scheduled visit to the territory by Chinese official Lu Ping. Mr Lu would be meeting the Governor as scheduled. He declined to comment on Sir David's retirement. Chinese sources was quoted in some reports as saying that any agreement or consensus to be reached between Sir David and Lu Ping would remain in force after Sir David's retirement. The sources said that the main aim of Mr Lu's trip. which was regular one. was to discuss the Legço committee system. Inflation would also be discussed.
JLG
In another development, media reports also mentioned that JLG Chinese leader Guo Fengmin said Luo Jiahuan had arrived in HK and Zheng Weirong would depart for Peking at the end of the month. The lead story in the Express said that the two sides of the LG were split over the jurisdiction powers of the Court of Final Appeal and this was a more important matter than their differences over the ratio of judges. Quoting officials close to the British side of the JLG, the report said that under HK's present system, the controlling powers of the Court were very different from those specified in the Basic Law.
COMMITTEE SYSTEM
The media said that legislator Edward Chen had proposed setting up 12 standing committees to vet Bills while retaining the existing standing panels in Legco,