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too has received a copy of the latest letter to the Secretary of State. We shall shortly be submitting a recommended reply to the letter of 16 October: in the meantime, the reply to Lord Brockway is based on the assumption that he was referring to the earlier exchange with Lord Gorowny-Roberts. The possibility that he may have been referring to the later letter is covered in the supplementaries, which have been drafted on the assumption that (as we shall be recommending) the Secretary of State will maintain the same line as that
taken by Lord Goronwy-Roberts.
5. It would in fact be difficult to go beyond that line. We are currently reviewing the whole question of the future of Hong Kong, prior to our trying to reach an understanding with the Chinese on the territory's future. In the meantime, while we certainly would like in principle to see more democracy in Hong Kong, we do not want to introduce any changes in the political structure that might be misinterpreted by the Chinese.
6. In any case there is little evidence to support the claim in the councillors' letter that there is a widespread popular demand for changes in Hong Kong. Certainly there is very little interest in democratic processes among the general population. At present the Urban Council is the only body in
Hong Kong that is even partially elected: half of its
24 members are elected, the others being appointed by the Governor. Only a limited proportion of the population however participate in the elections. To be eligible to vote, Hong Kong citizens must meet certain property and educational quali- fications: about 12% of the population meet these requirements. Only 35,000 (about 7%) of those qualified have registered to do so, and of these only 7,000 bothered to vote at the last Urban
Council elections, despite the efforts of the Hong Kong Government to create more public interest in the elections.
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