HONG KONG: PUBLICATION OF JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1990 EXCHANGES
There was no "secret deal" between Britain and China.
There were a series of exchanges with the Chinese at
Ministerial and official level in January/February 1990, in an
attempt to reach a mutually satisfactory set of
electoral arrangements in the Basic Law.
But the final version of the Basic Law was not satisfactory to us, particularly on the number of directly-elected seats
for the 1995 elections. For the British side, the question of
the electoral arrangements for 1995 therefore remains open.
The Basic Law itself is silent on the composition of the
Election Committee for the first Legislative Council of the
Special Administrative Region Government (SARG). In his
address to the Legislative Council on 7 October the Governor
set out his proposals on how the Election Committee might be
constituted.
It is not our normal practice to publish diplomatic
exchanges with other Governments. If we were to do so in this
we would need to discuss with the Chinese beforehand.
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The British Government is considering all aspects of the
Governor's visit to Peking.
Nothing further to say until decisions have been taken.
exchanges.BRIEF.bern