Mr Michael Colvin MP
House of Commons
London SW1
Thank you for your letter of 5 February about the Governor's proposals for constitutional development in Hong N.P./Kong. I am enclosing a note which shows how the Governor's proposals relate to the provisions of the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law concerning the composition of the Legislative Council. This note also provides a list of the
key references in the two documents.
As the note brings out, we believe that the Governor's proposals are consistent with the Joint Declaration and the
Basic Law. So far the Chinese have not produced any detailed argument in support of their assertions to the contrary.
The
The Basic Law is in fact silent on a number of aspects of
the electoral arrangements for the Legislative Council.
Governor therefore had to make proposals for the arrangements to apply in the 1995 elections. We and the Governor have
stated repeatedly that the proposals are not set in concrete,
and that we are ready to discuss them with the Chinese at any time without preconditions.
ALASTAIR GOODLAD