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On the CPPCC, the China Daily of 10 May said it was a united front organisation led by the Chinese Communist Party; by uniting all patriotic forces, it had as its goal the fight for socialist modernisation and the reunification of China. The 6th National Committee of the CPPCC was characterised by the further strengthening of cooperation between the Chinese Communist Party on the one hand and the other democratic parties, non-party democrats, representatives of minority nationalities, patriotic figures in religious circles and famous people from various fields on the other. This was an assessment made by Mr. Yang Jingren, head of the United Front Department under the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee. The paper described as "another important feature" of the new CPPCC the cutback in membership of communists in favour of non-communists. The membership of middle-aged intellectuals who had made outstanding services to the country's modernisation had increased; their inclusion would enliven the work of the CPPCC, Mr. Yang said.
Asiaweek of 20 May reported the election of five "establishmentarian" HK businessmen (Mr. T.K. Ann, Mr. Gordon Wu, Mr. Kenneth Fung, Mr. Ho Sai-chu and Mr. K.S. Lo) to the National Committee of the CPPCC and said the move was seen as a sign of China's progress in winning over influential, politically middle-of-the-road elements; previous elections of HK people to Chinese official bodies had generally been confined to leftwingers.
British General Election: Analysts said the early general election in Britain would pave the way for concrete talks between the British and Chinese Governments on HK's future. They believed London and Beijing would be able to engage in more serious and intensive talks after the elections which would determine Britain's policies for the next few years. Dr. Joseph Cheng of CU described the early election as "something positive" in the current Sino-British talks; it would enable the two governments to proceed with concrete negotiations sooner and he hoped a solution would result. He noted both China and Britain had made it clear they expected no major breakthrough in the talks before the election. An early election would help lessen people's worries about 1997. He said the negotiations would receive a boost if Britain announced a successor to its Ambassador to China, Sir Percy Cradock, during the election campaign. If Sir Percy's successor had a chance to familiarise himelf with the issue, the obstacles would persist if the two sides could not narrow their differences on the issue of sovereignty. Reform Club chairman, Mr. Brook Bernacchi, agreed that an early election would be beneficial to the 1997 talks; he thought the Chinese Government would be more willing to put forward concrete proposals because it would know by then British policy in the negotiations. Dr. Cheng said it would be difficult to predict the implications of a Labour victory as the Labour Party had not declared its stand on 1997, but he added that the Labour Party seemed to compromise on issues more easily, while on the other hand it favoured some kind of self-determination for the people and this would create a problem. If Labour won it could be too occupied with other issues and the talks might drag on. Mr. Bernacchi said it was possible Labour would be more flexible with the Chinese, but hoped if Labour won it would have as much interest in HK as the Conservatives.
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