TNAG-1288-FCO40-1639-Constitutional-development-in-Hong-Kong-1984 — Page 37

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[11

Careful consideration has been

given to the question of whether foreign nationals living in Hong

Hong Kong should be excluded from standing as candidates for election to the Legislative Council. On the one hand, it has been argued that it would be wrong in principle for such persons to sit on the Legislative Council, because they do not belong to Hong Kong nor is their first loyalty to Hong Kong, notwithstanding what might be considerable periods of residence locally. On the other hand, Hong Kong is a very cosmopolitan and open society to which foreign nationals have made and will no doubt continue to make an important contribution to the well-being and development of

of the community. It would be to Hong Kong's advantage if such persons were allowed to sit on the Legislative Council, in the same way as they are allowed to sit on the Urban

Urban Council and District Boards, although it is unlikely that, in practice, many would do so.]

[12

On balance, the Government has concluded that foreign nationals should not be excluded from standing for election to the Legislative Council.

OR

On balance, the Government has concluded that only persons who are either British Chinese by nationality or origin should be allowed to stand for election to the Legislative Council. Legislation to provide for this will be drafted accordingly. This will apply to both the electoral college and the functional constituency elections.]

13

Further details of these proposals are given at

Appendix A.

The Functional Constituencies

14

The Green Paper stressed that full weight should be given to representation of the economic and professional sectors of Hong Kong society which are essential to future confidence and prosperity. It was therefore proposed that the present informal system of selecting Unofficial members of the Legislative Council from functional constituencies should be developed into a formal representative system for the election of one or more representatives from each functional constituency to serve on the Legislative Council. It was also proposed that these arrangements should be introduced progressively, with six Unofficial members being

members being elected by functional constituencies in 1985 and 12 in 1988.

15

A further detailed examination has been conducted to identify functional constituencies with the object of ensuring that those major sectors of the community having common social,