XN000022-1987-07-16 — Page 17

THURSDAY, JULY 16, 1987

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WHAT THEY WANTED NOT BE AFRAID TO ASK FOR THE BEST FOR HONG KONG, HE ADDED,

PEOPLE SHOULD TELL THE CHINESE LEADERS

AND

WRONG TO "IN OUR DELIBERATIONS ON OUR POLITICAL SYSTEM, IT IS

POLITICAL STRUCTURE ASSUME THAT CHINA HAS A BASE LINE FOR THE FUTURE OF THE SAR. I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT ANY OF THE CHINESE LEADERS DETERMINE THE FUTURE OF HONG KONG KNOWS OUR SYSTEM INDEED THAT IS WHY THE CHINESE LEADERS WANT TO SAID.

WHO CAN WELL ENOUGH YET.

HEAR OUR

HE VIEWS,

MR LEE DISMISSED AS TOTALLY UNCONVINCING THE ARGUMENT THAT HONG SOVEREIGN KONG WOULD NEVER ATTAIN TRUE DEMOCRACY BECAUSE IT WAS NOT A STATE.

HE POINTED OUT THAT THERE WAS NOTHING IN THE JOINT DECLARATION SUGGESTING THAT THERE COULD NOT BE A DEMOCRACTIC SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT DIRECT ELECTION IN HONG KONG; NOR WAS THERE ANYTHING TO SUGGEST THAT COULD NOT BE INTRODUCED IN 1988.

HE RECALLED VARIOUS OCCASIONS WHERE THE HAD BEEN ASSURED OF A REPRESENTATIVE OR DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT ITS RETURN TO THE PRC. THESE OCCASIONS INCLUDED PRESS CONFERENCE IN APRIL 1984, FOLLOWED BY GREEN PAPER IN JULY, THE DRAFT JOINT DECLARATION IN SEPTEMBER WHITE PAPER IN NOVEMBER OF THE SAME YEAR.

PEOPLE

OF

SIR

THE

KONG BEFORE GEOFFERY HOWE'S PUBLICATION

HONG

OF THE AND THE

BY THESE THEM. THE

PROMISES,

MANY SAW FOUNDATION

"MANY PEOPLE IN HONG KONG WERE ENCOURAGED

BECAUSE OF AND THEY ACCEPTED THE JOINT DECLARATION THAT THERE IS HOPE FOR A BRIGHT FUTURE TO BE BUILT ON OF DEMOCRACY," MR LEE SAID.

"NOBODY THEN SAID WE MUST NOT MAKE ANY CHANGE TO OUR POLITICAL SYSTEM UNTIL AFTER THE PROMULGATION OF THE BASIC LAW. INDEED, NOBODY THEN SEEMED TO BE WORRIED ABOUT 'CONVERGENCE' OR THE LACK OF IT."

BUT SINCE THEN, MR LEE SAID, CHINA'S STAND AND TONES HAD ITS ATTITUDE CHANGED. BUT HE DID NOT BELIEVE THAT CHINA WOULD CHANGE BUT FOR THE OVER WILLINGNESS ON THE PART OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT GIVE IN, OR TO "CONVERGE" WITH THE CHINESE.

TO

IN MR LEE'S VIEW, THE SOLUTION WOULD BE FOR HONG KONG то HOLD

TO BOTH THE CHINESE AND THE BRITISH GOVERNMENTS

THE TERMS OF THE JOINT DECLARATION WHEREIN LAY PEOPLE'S ONLY HOPE FOR THE FUTURE.

"WE MUST NOT ALLOW THE JOINT DECLARATION TO BECOME A LITANY BROKEN PROMISES, HE SAID.

'CONVERGENCE'

OF

LEE

MR LAW, RELEVANT SUB-GROUP

THE

ON THE POINT OF

WITH THE BASIC MENTIONED THAT OF THE 91X PROPOSALS RAISED AT THE OF THE BASIC LAW DRAFTING COMMITTEE, RELATING TO

COMPOSITION OF ELECTION AS BEING THE LEGISLATURE OF THE SAR, FIVE SUPPORTED DIRECT

THE ONE OF THE MODES OF ELECTION IN THE FUTURE LEGISLATURE. LIKEWISE, GREAT PREPONDERANCE OF VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THE BASIC LAW CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE WAS ALSO IN SUPPORT OF DIRECT ELECTION.

/HE, THEREFORE,