XN000022-1996-03-20 — Page 4

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Look at the queues for BNO passports outside the Immigration Department this morning. That's an indication of people's concern about these issues. So we'd first of all talk about right of abode. Secondly, I'm sure that the people of Hong Kong would expect us to talk about the protection of human rights in Hong Kong because there are anxieties both about China's commitment to report on the international covenants compliance and there are concerns about some of the threats to gut or fillet the Bill of Rights here in Hong Kong. And then there are concerns about the promises that have been made to Hong Kong about the development of representative government, of accountable government, the future of the Legislative Council.

There are, I understand, meetings in Peking taking place this week talking about these matters. Let's be absolutely clear what it's all about. Behind all the trips to Peking, behind all the airline flights, behind all the meetings, the issue is perfectly clear. We'll see of course attempts to justify the establishment of a provisional legislature which isn't required. We'll see attempts to justify that under the Basic Law. And I'm sure that people of Hong Kong will look at those attempts of justification with a good deal of scepticism.

But what is actually being attempted is perfectly plain. What Chinese officials want to do is to exclude certain particular individuals from the legislature, and what they want to do is to reduce the number of democrats in the legislature. There is no point in looking for more sophisticated motivations than that; there is no point in thinking the argument is about whether or not there is a better way of electing the legislature. The argument is about those two precise things. And that was what the argument was about during 17 rounds of talks.

We refuse to do that because we don't think that the objective of a fair election should be to ensure that the Government has political control over the legislature. We think that it's the people of Hong Kong who need to be represented in the legislature. So those are the issues that will really be on the table over the coming weeks and months. Whether or not individuals are excluded from the legislature because of their opinions, and whether or not attempts are really going to be made to reduce the number of democrats because they represent 60 to 70 per cent of the people of Hong Kong. Needn't be too sophisticated about it; that's what the argument's about. Bye.

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