TNAG-1366-FCO40-1812-Hong-Kong-Legislative-Council-(Powers-and-Privileges)-Bill-1-1985 — Page 61

From The Minister of State

Richard Luce MP

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

London SW1A 2AH

3 July 1985

4KK

01/ız

RECEIVED IN REGISTRY

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- 4 JUL 1985

RECISTRY

72

Dear

Ivan

DES

INDEX

..

Nion Taken

SOH

Thank you for your letter of 19 June enclosing the comments of your Hong Kong legal friend on various issues in the territory.

Your correspondent quotes four major Hong Kong issues as evidence to support his view that the Hong Kong Government is "arbitrary, stubborn but capricious and dead wrong about so many things", but I think that it could equally be argued from recent developments that the Hong Kong Government is taking pains to respond to public opinion in the territory. For example, the proposals contained in the Trial of Commercial Crimes Bill 1985, to which your correspondent refers, were the subject of a consultative document published by the Hong Kong Government last year. The Bill itself was introduced into the Legislative Council of Hong Kong on 13 March, and was then submitted to the study of a sub-committee of unofficial members of the Legislative Council. In the light of the wide range of comments and representations made on the Bill, the sub-committee concluded that more consideration was needed both of the Bill itself and the whole problem of the investigation and prosecution of complex commercial crimes. At the sub-committee's recommendation, and with the support of the Hong Kong Government, a Select Committee of the Legislative Council has been formed to examine this wide issue in closer detail. The Bill will not be taken further until the Select Committee has reported. So there remains full opportunity for the public debate on the complicated issue of commercial crimes to continue in Hong Kong. Your correspondent may wish to present his views to the Select Committee.

The Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Bill has just completed its passage through the Hong Kong Legislative Council. The Bill had, since its publication on 10 May, been amended to take account of the wide range of public comments made on it: and indeed the Second Reading in the Legislative Council

Ivan Lawrence Esq QC MP

House of Commons

LONDON SW1A OAA

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