TNAG-1234-FCO40-1547-Future-of-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 62

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the enactment of legislation in certain specified areas must be finally approved, and may be disallowed, by HMG.

HMG may also extend UK legislation and Orders-in-Council

to Hong Kong. This is seldom done;

appeals, through the Judicial Committee of the Privy

Council.

Possible Changes

3. One of the main inhibitions to a greater exercise of autonomy is the lack of elected representatives at the central government level. This means that there are no local ministers who can be made

responsible for decisions and that UK Ministers must therefore be

answerable instead in Parliament and elsewhere. It is possible that an agreement with the Chinese on continuing British administration might make it possible for an elected representative government to be established in Hong Kong. This would allow the Territory to be treated in the same way as a colony with internal self-government, ie full local responsibility for domestic legislation and its application. It would, at the same time, need to be made clear that such self-government was not a step towards independence.

4. If an elected government were not possible there might still be room for considerable amendment to the Letters Patent and the Royal Instructions to reduce the areas of legislation in which HMG's approval is required. In that event it would probably be desirable to replace the existing instruments with a new Order-in-Council. But this would need careful consideration in the light of our negotiations with the Chinese, who might react badly to what they saw as a rejuvenation of the colonial government.

5.

Other practical changes without constitutional implications would include:

i.

increasing the number of Hong Kong Chinese employed in senior grades in the Administrative Service and

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