ENT HOUSE, HONG KONG.
TUE SO NOU 33 12112.
PG.03
(B) as at 30.11.93 (7.30 p.m.)
SECRET
Draft Statement to Legco : 2 December
Mr. President, I should like to make a statement on the
electoral arrangements for 1994 and 1995.
For the last seven months, negotiations have been
continuing between Britain and China on the arrangements for the District Board elections in 1994 and the Municipal Council and
LegCo elections in 1995. These talks have lasted for a very long time. The 17th round concluded in Peking on Saturday without
agreement.
These negotiations are not about the pace of democratisation in Hong Kong, though some of you think they
should be. There is no argument between Britain and China over
the principle that Hong Kong's democratic institutions should
continue to develop. That is spelt out in the Joint Declaration,
which provides that from 1 July 1997 the LegCo of the SAR "shall be constituted by elections". China's own Basic Law for Hong
Kong sets out that process of democratic development in greater
detail.
What is at issue is how to turn this principle into practice. Last October I set out a number of proposals designed to achieve that. Those proposals, put forward with the full
support of the British Government and after consultations in Hong
Kong, were carefully designed to be wholly consistent with the
Joint Declaration, the Basic Law and the relevant agreements and understandings between the two sides, an objective which according to the evidence of independent lawyers to the Foreign
Affairs Committee of the House of Commons was wholly achieved. But we always made clear that they were proposals, which we wished to discuss with the Chinese side. Our clear preference is to proceed by agreement with China wherever we can, in the
interests of continuity. That is why we pressed hard for talks on these matters between Britain and China, and were pleased when
SECRET