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TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 1993
concluding them and legislating on the basis of them, if that proves possible, in time to have satisfactory electoral arrangements there for 1994 and 1995. That is plainly a problem, and it is a problem which we would have to confront with the Chinese side in any talks and with the community in Hong Kong if talks got underway and if talks were taking a long time and if talks were getting somewhere. Because there would be no point on either side, I would guess, in just talking for the sake of talking unless one was actually making progress.
The Chinese officials who are most involved in monitoring Hong Kong affairs appreciate the urgency for having arrangements in place with a decent interval before the elections actually
happen. For example, SO far as the 1994 District Board elections are concerned, by about this autumn those who intend
to be candidates will want to know about their constituencies,
they will want to be getting to know the communities which they
hope to represent and it would be difficult for them if the District Board electoral arrangements were not on the table by then. So there are practical problems. That is one reason why we wanted talks to begin on 24 February, and another reason why
I would be very happy if talks started this afternoon.
E
JONATHAN MIRSKY (Observer): In order to get talks or
keep talks going, are there any circumstances at all in which you
would give way on the nature of the talks? In other words, is
it absolutely a bottom line, that Hong Kong be represented fully
on the team? Two, is it a bottom line that the through-train
contains every single member elected to the Legislative Council
/IN 1995
No comments yet.
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