CONFIDENTIAL
10 -
Appendix II
Chinese Comments on the Constitutional Package. Sincerity
Date
Official/Sources /Commentators
Comments
31.7.93
31.7.93
31.7.93
31.7.93
Foreign Minister Qian Qichen in an interview
with Bauhinia
magazine
Lu Ping to reporters during a trip to the Three Gorges
HK Commercial Daily editorial
Wen Wei Po
editorial
We hope an early agreement can be reached at the talks. To achieve this, the two
sides must take into account Sino-British
relations and the maintenance of HK's stability and prosperity. They must restore trust and cooperation on the basis of the "three conformities" and work along the path stipulated in the JD.
The talks have not resolved issues concerning functional constituency elections and the Election Committee.
In order to put pressure on China, the British side has been stressing that time is running out. However, when discussions are to be held on substantive issues, they use "vacation" as an excuse for delaying the talks. Recent remarks by the British side about the talks, and the three latest
"false starts" the Governor made before he left HK, show that Mr Patten is not interested at all in the talks achieving results.
The Governor's remarks that lawyers refusing to take up cases are "like China not keeping her promise to maintain her reputation" are to spread distrust among HK people and create suspicions between residents and the Chinese Government. His
comments on the rule of law is a deliberate attempt to shake residents' confidence in "one country, two systems". Coupled with his earlier remarks that "no agreement is better than a bad agreement", people can see that Mr Patten is turning Martin Lee's case into a political show to pave the way for doing things that will undermine a smooth transition in his policy address in October.
CONFIDENTIAL