CONFIDENTIAL
Message from
TU
Mr Chen Ziying (Hong Kong & Macau Affairs Office,
State Council) to British Ambassador in Peking
(8 February 1999)
I have reported
message Mr
to Foreign Minister Qian the Ambassador had conveyed to the Chinese side on behalf of the British side on 6 February and I have also
passed on the three documents enclosed therewith to our
experts оп the Basic Law. am hereby instructed to give the following reply
2.
•
With regard to the
proportion of the directly elected members, the Chinese side has long made it clear
that if the British side would undertake to have no more
than 18 members directly elected to the 1991 Hong Kong Legislative Council on a geographical constituency basis,
the Chinese side would consider to increase the number of
the directly elected members in the first Legislative
Council of the SAR to 20. The Chinese side would like to
see this point confirmed in
written form by the British
side prior to the ninth plenary session of the Drafting
Committee of the Basic Law. Otherwise, the Chinese side
would consider as the final decision the 18 directly
elected seats proposal adopted by the special group on the
political structure of the Basic Law Drafting Committee.
3*
With regard to the Electoral Committee, the
Chinese side agrees with the five principles concerning the
committee proposed by the British side in the document.
However, the Chinese side maintains that the provisions on
the composition and ratio of
the Electoral Committee as
specified in paragraph 2 of Annex I of the Basic Law
(draft) must be followed in terms of its proportional composition.
Annex I was approved by a
This is
because
two-thirds majority of the membership of the Drafting Committee at its eighth plenary session. China believes
its provisions on composition and ratio are appropriate and should therefore not be subject to change.
that
CONFIDENTIAL