XN000022-1996-04-18 — Page 8

Regardless of our personal preferences, do you agree that at this point in time the establishment of the provisional legislature is a certainty? And if you agree, then would this Government recognise and co-operate with the provisional legislature so that its work can be better integrated with that of the Government and this Council, whereby help with a smooth transition?

Governor: I promise not to give the honourable member a quotation from Chairman Mao but what he says about a smooth transition reminds me very much of the story of the man who punched somebody else on the jaw and then blamed the other fellow for hurting his hand with his chin. Because the threat to a smooth transition comes from those who say they will dismantle this Legislative Council, elected by the largest number of people who have ever voted in Hong Kong's history, elected fairly and freely, entirely in line with the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law.

Whether or not this Legislative Council is dismantled, I repeat what the British Foreign Secretary has said, that the proposal to dismantle it is reprehensible and unjustifiable. There is no justification under the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law for dismantling it. We have had a tissue of fabrications suggesting that somehow the arrangements for electing this Legislative Council were not in line with the sacred texts. Nobody, as the honourable gentleman will know perfectly well, has ever been able to demonstrate that.

The only thing which is true is that the Chinese officials did not like the arrangements for electing this Legislative Council. And let me dwell for a moment on that point. We all know, Legislative Councillors with experience on the Executive Council know, Legislative Councillors who were here in 1992 and 1993 know perfectly well, that the reason that discussions on electoral arrangements broke down was that our side, Hong Kong Government, the British Government, refused to accept arrangements, refused to connive at arrangements, which would have specifically excluded some members of this Council from a future Legislative Council solely because of their views, and which would have attempted to dilute the number of pro- democracy politicians in the Legislative Council in future by the sort of arrangements that were made.

Now, we refused to go along with that. What Chinese officials are now doing is asking the Preparatory Committee to endorse precisely those sort of arrangements. And I don't think the 13 members of this Legislative Council who it appears are prepared to go along with that should be surprised if other members of this Legislative Council and other members of the community, and the international community, find that offensive. I don't know how honourable members can justify that.