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particularly poorly represented under the present proposals in Option A. A system introducing an element of wider franchise, drawing on elements envisaged under Option D would go some way to meeting that objection and to meeting the Governor's requirement that the electors should themselves have been elected. But it would be immensely cumbersome. It would seem a huge effort to produce a committee which is after all going only to elect 10 of the members of the future Legislative Council. Furthermore Lady Dunn has said (Hong Kong telno 73) that Option D would not conform with the Basic Law and also went in the opposite direction to which China wanted things to go.
8. This again leads back to Option A with some
· modifications. The problem is that the nearer one gets to the Basic Law, the further one gets fromt he Governor's original inspiration. Option A might look to the critics too much like giving in to the Chinese.
8. It is not at all certain that compromising with the Chinese over the Election Committee would remove their objections to other parts of the Governor's package. Quite the reverse, they would interpret his climbing down on that as a sign of general weakness and would no doubt seek to procure changes in other parts of the package. Practically speaking, I do not think it is possible to isolate one element of the package from another, and that once one is opened to negotiation or amendment so are the
others.
9. One of the main Chinese objections to the Governor's original package was that it was sprung on them without any form of "consultation" (they evidently did not consider the advance warning given them as sufficient consultation in this respect). It is important that in putting forward any amendments to the package an effort should be made to involve the Chinese in some form of "consultation" over it. Without such "consultation" they are unlikely to wish to agree to anything other than a complete climbdown.
REA
RF Wye
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