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The Patten proposals do at least have the merit of letting Hong
Kong people in effect choose the terms of engagement. He has
facilitated the development of a more representative political
system in Hong Kong with a more 'responsible' legislature. Even
though the negotiations are so constructed as to make this a
Sino-British problem, it is in fact a Sino-Hong Kong problem as
the people of Hong Kong will have to live with the consequences
and make them work. Under the Patten proposals the electoral
system will not be already biased in China's favour.
Conclusions
The Patten proposals may have created new problems, but they
also brought to the surface the problems of perceptions, flaws
in the structure of the negotiations and weaknesses in the
decision-making structure especially on the Chinese side
that were already there.
In the period before 1992 the negotiations had in fact
achieved some notable successes.
In particular the Joint
Declaration of 1984 may be said to have been the product of an
accommodation between Chinese broad principles and the British
attention to detail. There was clearly a shared interest between
the two disparate sides in trying to ensure that the stability
and prosperity of Hong Kong could continue as anchored in what
was carefully termed the Hong Kong "way of life." It is possible
that the shared interest could have continued through to the