CONFIDENTIAL
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Para(s)
LORD GOROINY-ROBERTS'S HEETING WITH THE GOVERNOR OF HONG KONG:
2 DECEMBER 1975
BRIEF NO. 44
CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
Line to Take
1.
The Minister may wish to ask the Governor for his latest thoughts on the proposed changes in the membership of the L gislative Council and to discuss the implications of this move on the Council': efficiency. In particular, he might like to raise the following
points:
(a) what has been the public reaction to the proposal
to increase the size of LegCo?
(b)
could he say any more about the three new members he proposes to appoint next year?
(c) in the longer term does he feel that progress
towards more open and active Government will lead to an increase in the desire for representative government amongst the Chinese population?
Background
2.
There is some pressure both here and in a small but vocal minority in Hong Kong for progress towards a more representative form of self-government in the Colony. Chinese opposition rules out constitutional development along the lines we have fostered in post and present colonial territorics. This is perhaps more widely understood now than at the beginning of this farliament; NEC in particular are unlikely to let the matter drop.
3.
but
The Governor has long held that the only way forward is to attempt to alter the social composition of the Legislative Council by making appointments from a wider social background. He has, however, argued that this carrot bo rushed: there is difficulty
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