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Chi se, rather than British power.
Nevertheless, it would possible
to reserve powers to HMG, to be exercised through the elected Governor in the first instance or directly if that relationship
broke down. (See Annex)
6.
Chinese acquiescence in the appointment of an elected Governor
would be necessary before we could with confidence take action to
implement such an arrangement. Without it there might be a political clash which would overshadow the period up to 1997 and endanger the credibility of an overall agreement. The timing and method of the sounding of Chinese views on this question needs
careful consideration. There is a case for approaching them soon, while negotiations are still in progress testing their reaction to
the idea of an elected Governor. We shall in any case need to inform them of the contents of the Green Paper on Constitutional
Development and a discussion on the Governorship might form a logical sequel to that.
7. However it is doubtful whether this sort of approach would be helpful. The indications are that the Chinese are not prepared to commit themselves on this question at such long range and that if asked they would at best give an imprecise answer and at worst turn the idea down. It would therefore be better to approach the problem from the other end and to concentrate on trying to get wording in
the annex to the agreement on constitutional arrangements which left
open the possibility of an elected Chief Executive of the SAR after
1997. The idea then would be to observe Chinese reactions to the
implementation of the various stages in the Green Paper and to decide whether an approach should be made to them about the
Governorship later on. This would have the advantage of keeping our
own options open on the question so that we could see what problems arose during the late eighties over the Government of Hong Kong which might affect our view on the Governorship.
CONCLUSION
8. It is agreed that we should inform the Chinese of the contents of the Green Paper shortly before publication. We should make it
our eventual aim to achieve the establishment of an elected
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