XN000022-1988-03-16 — Page 28

26

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 1988

HE HAD QUERIED THE WISDOM PRESENT SYSTEM OF REPRESENTATIVE OPERATION FOR A MERE TWO YEARS.

MR CHENG SAID THAT IN SPEAKING ON THE GREEN

OF

INTRODUCING

SWEEPING

GOVERNMENT

CHANGES WHICH HAD

PAPER LAST JULY,

THE

TO BEEN IN

"I THEN SAID, 'I AM ALSO OPPOSED TO MAKING MAJOR CHANGES SYSTEM WHICH HAS NOT BEEN ADEQUATELY TESTED.'

-

ΤΟ A

IS AN AN AREA HONG KONG

"AND INDEED, AS REFLECTED IN THE WHITE PAPER, TWO YEARS

AREA ABNORMALLY SHORT TESTING TIME IN SUCH A SIGNIFICANT WHICH WILL HAVE FAR-REACHING CONSEQUENCES ON THE FUTURE OF AND ON THE LIVELIHOOD OF ITS PEOPLE.

HESITATION OR

RESERVATION,

THAT

I AM HAPPY

"I THEREFORE AGREE, WITHOUT DIRECT ELECTIONS SHOULD NOT BE INTRODUCED THIS YEAR, AND TO SEE THAT THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THE WHITE PAPER ARE SIMILAR.

MR CHENG SAID

++

INTRODUCE

APPROPRIATE TIME COUNCIL BECAUSE

TO

BY

THEN THE

IN 1985,

1991 WAS THE THE LEGISLATIVE DIRECT ELECTIONS TO EXISTING STRUCTURE OF REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT, INTRODUCED WOULD HAVE HAD SUFFICIENT TIME TO BE TESTED.

TO

"SIX YEARS, 1 WOULD SAY, IS A REASONABLE DURATION

THEREFORE NEW SYSTEM TO BE ADEQUATELY SCREENED AND IT WOULD SENSIBLE TO MAKE FURTHER CHANGES TO THE SYSTEM AT THAT POINT

ALLOW A BE MORE IN TIME."

TIME FOR THAT ANY SYSTEM

WAS A SUITABLE MR CHENG SAID HE ALSO THOUGHT 1991 INTRODUCING DIRECT ELECTIONS BECAUSE IT WAS HIS FIRM BELIEF CHANGES TO A SYSTEM AS IMPORTANT AND AS VITAL AS THE POLITICAL SHOULD BE EVOLUTIONARY AND GRADUAL.

T

PUTTING OUR "THIS WOULD NOT ONLY ELIMINATE THE POSSIBILITY OF

BUT WOULD ALSO SYSTEM AT RISK - A RISK WHICH WE CAN HARDLY AFFORD

DECLARATION WHICH PLACES BE CONSISTENT WITH THE SPIRIT OF THE JOINT

OF OUR GREAT EMPHASIS ON THE CONTINUITY AND A STEP-BY-STEP EVOLUTION STRUCTURE.

SPEECH IN JULY,

"FURTHERMORE, AS I POINTED OUT IN MY EARLIER ANY ATTEMPT TO MAKE SUBSTANTIAL INNOVATIONS AT THIS STAGE WOULD ALMOST CERTAINLY BE INTERPRETED AS HONG KONG.

M

PRE-EMPTING

THE FUTURE

BASIC LAW FOR

MR CHENG

SAID HE BELIEVED

TUAT

AGREE LOCAL PEOPLE WOULD

ACHIEVE A SMOOTH AND STABILITY

UNANIMOUSLY THAT IT WAS OF PARAMOUNT IMPORTANCE TO TRANSITION IN 1997 IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN THE PROSPERITY OF THE TERRITORY.

-

'IN DOING SO,

11 15

ESSENTIAL

THAT DEVELOPMENTS ΤΟ BE. ESTABLISHED IN THE BASIC LAW WHICH IS DUE TO BE PROMULGATED IN 1990. IT IS WISE NOT TO INTRODUCE MAJOR CHANGES TO THE LEGISLATURE THIS YEAR.'

TO ENSURE BEFORE 1997 ARE COMPATIBLE WITH THE FRAMEWORK

THEREFORE

/ON THE