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constituencies, and that the electoral base will be broadened to cover more than a million people, it is still against the BL. Employers and employees should not be grouped in the same functional constituency. Also, members of the agricultural, fisheries and mining
industries have little interest in common. Therefore, the British counter-proposal will only lead to confrontation and dispute between different strata and sectors of the community. It cannot reflect the views of businessmen and the professionals.
The British side must not deviate from the
main theme of the talks and must not make false starts outside the negotiating chamber. Topics on which the two countries have already reached consensus, such as the composition of the Election Committee, the number of directly elected seats and functional constituency elections, need not be raised again. Other matters such as boundary demarcation and voting method should be resolved on the basis of the "three conformities" principle.
Reports that the British side has made a concession by slashing the electorate for the functional constituency seats from 2.5 million to one million are misleading because the Chinese side has never agreed to the Patten proposal. The one-million electoral base will be a drastic increase in number, compared with the original 100,000 eligible voters in the functional constituency elections.
With the approach of 1997, it is only natural for local delegates to the NPC and the CPPCC to assume a greater political role. The British side should not object to their presence in the Election Committee.
Media reports said that the British side is particularly against the inclusion of local NPC and CPPCC delegates in the Election Committee. Apart from violating BL stipulations, this also shows that the British side still clings to the Patten package and is playing the democracy card.'
The British compromise package is still totally unacceptable. The revised proposal is the Patten plan in disguise because the
CONFIDENTIAL