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Statement by the Foreign Secretary
Following is a statement by the Foreign Secretary issued by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office at 0800 hours on Friday, December 20, 1996 (London time):
British policy on Hong Kong is governed by the Sino-British Joint Declaration on the Question of Hong Kong of 1984 (the JD). The JD is a binding treaty between Britain and China, registered at the United Nations.
The present electoral arrangements in Hong Kong are entirely consistent with the Joint Declaration. Independent legal experts confirmed this in evidence to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee in 1994. Our proposals commanded strong public support in Hong Kong, as was shown by opinion polls and record levels of voter registration and turn-out.
Hong Kong's stability and prosperity have been enhanced, not damaged, by a legislature elected on an open and fair basis.
There is no justification for China to replace a legislature elected openly and fairly by more than one million Hong Kong people. This will be a serious set-back for the development of representative government in Hong Kong foreseen in the JD and China's Basic Law for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (the BL). China should be prepared to trust Hong Kong people with the measure of democracy we have introduced.
There is no basis for a provisional legislature in the JD or the BL. Common sense suggests that a body chosen by a hand-picked 'electorate' of 400 is not, in any reasonable sense, a "legislature constituted by elections", as required by paragraph 49 of the JD.
We take an equally serious view of China's plan to have a provisional legislature start operating six months before the handover. All the tasks China apparently has in mind for a provisional legislature before the handover can and should be accomplished by others, notably the Chief Executive (designate) and his team. China has solemnly committed itself in the JD to cooperating with British administration of Hong Kong until the handover, in the interest of maintaining and preserving Hong Kong's prosperity and stability (JD30).
After the handover China will continue to be bound by its promise that the legislature of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region will be constituted by elections. A provisional legislature composed on the basis proposed by China cannot meet this promise. China thus has a clear duty to return as soon as possible to unambiguous implementation of the JD and to minimise the damage which a provisional legislature may cause.