Mr Robert Adley, M.P.
House of Commons
London SW1A OAA
Thank you for your letter of 23 April.
the
I am surprised that you doubt the wish of Hong Kong people to
have a greater say in the running of Hong Kong, since that is
a matter of common ground between us and the Chinese
Government. Both the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law
rightly have Deng Xiaoping's idea of 'Hong Kong people
running Hong Kong' as a lynchpin. Indeed the Basic Law itself provides for greater democracy in Hong Kong. So there is no argument between us on this point of principle.
Our concern, as you know, is that the arrangements for the last elections under British sovereignty should be fair, open and acceptable to the people of Hong Kong. We believe, as I
байв indicated in my earlier letter, that Chris Patten's
proposals are the best way of achieving this. They continue
to enjoy very considerable support in Hong Kong. But we
thank have always made clear that they are proposals and we were arr
keen to discuss them with the Chinese side, together with
any ideas that they might have. Those discussions are now proceeding and I very much hope that we will be able to
bring them to a successful conclusion.
-
John Major
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