it.lau.MORRIS
JEB
September 1993
Ms Emily Lau, Legislative Councillor Legislative Council Building
8 Jackson Road
Central
Hong Kong
Thank you for your letter of 20 September setting out your
concerns about Hong Kong.
We take seriously our responsibilities to the people of Hong Kong. But it will not surprise you to learn that I do not
share all your views on how best we can meet them.
You imply that our conduct of the talks with China to date does not match my statements at the beginning of the year, and
suggest that the Governor should now reveal the details of the
talks. I disagree. As you know, the Governor's proposals
were developed after an intensive series of consultations with a broad range of people in Hong Kong. He gave LegCo and the Hong Kong people a detailed account of the proposals we would
be making to the Chinese side, and our aim of holding
elections which are open, fair and acceptable to the people of
Hong Kong. We are aware of the clear wish of the Hong Kong
community for the talks with China to succeed. But it is wholly unrealistic to imagine that there would be any prospect
of success if the Governor were to reveal the details of what
is taking place in the talks before they have been concluded.
I am puzzled by your comments about the role of the Executive
Council. Our negotiating position has been agreed throughout
with the Governor and ExCo. I and Alastair Goodlad make a
point of consulting ExCo whenever we are in Hong Kong.
We