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6.
elective system used for the Urban Council can be best extended to the New Territories (paragraph 4 my minute of
15 September gives further background on this);
(c) Legislative Council introduction of indirect system of
elections by specified groups (paragraphs 6-7);
(d) Executive Council introduction of system whereby most
Unofficial members are elected by members of the Legislative
Council (paragraphs 7-8). The Governor has abandoned for the time being at least his previous idea of giving
Unofficial members of the Executive Council portfolio responsibilities.
These proposals link all the major constitutional elements to
one another. There would be a much closer relationship than at
present between the Executive and Legislative Councils and the
District Boards and Regional Councils.
7. I agree with the Governor that the proposals would go a considerable way to meeting the demand for public participation in
government. By reducing the number of appointments in the Governor's gift and broadening the representative base at every
level, they would also lessen opportunities for interference by the Chinese if they agree that the present administrative structure may
continue after 1997.
8. In general the Governor's ideas strike me as a sound and
imaginative response to the two problems that we face, namely the
need to establish solid, self-sustaining structures before 1997 and
to meet the aspirations of Hong Kong's population. My main concerns
relate to the lack of plans for direct elections to the Legislative
Council and to the dropping of the proposal to give 'ministerial'
responsibilities to certain unofficial members of EXCO.
9. The main previous argument against direct elections was that the
Chinese would oppose the move as a possible step towards
independence for Hong Kong. This would probably be removed if an agreement with Peking were reached on the future of the territory as
a Special Administrative Region of China. Moreover the Chinese
themselves are laying some emphasis on the process of consultation
and/or election (imprecisely defined) from which a head of the SAR and other office-holders would emerge. The Governor now cites the
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