SECRET 高度機密
1
Although
independence
was
impossible, the British
authorities in the post war period continued to
recognise the desirability of greater democracy.
Proposals were made in public by Governor Young,
and the matter was reconsidered in the 1960s.
However, progress was inevitably inhibited by
known opposition to the creation of
China's
democratic institutions.
Neither
successive
governments nor the community were willing to
provoke China into challenging the status quo in
pursuit of her standing claim to sovereignty.
Nevertheless the Hong Kong Government did seek to
develop greater popular participation by
The Joint Declaration changed matters, fixing a
date for the end of British rule and appearing to
promise democratic institutions.
authorities had been deprived
arguments
for
resisting
The British
of the basic
pressures
for
constitutional reform.
GF 116
SECRET 高度機密