National People's
People's Congress in Peking, it was finally
announced, on 13 April, that Britain and China would open
confidential talks in Peking on the subject of the
electoral arrangements for the 1994-5 elections in Hong
Kong.
The talks were to be conducted by two principal
representatives, Sir Robin McLaren himself and the Chinese
Vice-Foreign Minister, Jiang Enzhu. They would be assisted
by experts and advisers, on the British side drawn from Hong
Kong as well as from London. The arrangements were
reminiscent of those in 1982-4 during the negotiations on
the Joint Declaration.
The announcement signalled a drawing-back on both
sides. On the British side it also implied a a somewhat
reduced role for Hong Kong. Although the option of breaking
off the talks and referring the issue to Legco was never
abandoned, and was indeed used by the Governor on occasion
as a means of pressure, for the time being at least Hong
Kong's legislators seemed content, almost relieved, to
await the outcome of the discussions between capitals and
ready when they were concluded to pass the appropriate
legislation.
In a wider sense also, the agreement to open talks
between London and Peking was a watershed in the crisis. For
some six months there had been a relapse, a reversion to
older ways of handling Sino-British relations, an apparent
readiness to go it alone and embark on direct trials of
strength. In practice it had proved, to put it mildly,
counter-productive. The desperate casting about for an