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believe they are
to developing a better apparatus for assessing
opinion and for explaining Government policies to it.
well aware of this.
public
I
9.
It is widely agreed that confrontational policies such
as those on party lines at Westminster will not be right,
given the Chinese dimension,
of problems
in Hon g Kong.
for discussion and settlement
Nevertheless there must
be
public discussion of political subjects if Government is to
be sensitive to public concerns.
One conclusion might be
on
that the Hong Kong Government in future should make much
more use of consultation documents such as Green Papers,
especially on constitutional matters. The 1984 Green Paper
LEGCO elections etc was a useful precedent for this. It
will be much easier for government
to establish a "firm"
policy once the issues have be en thoroughly discussed at a
stage where the Government is not irrevocably committed to
a particular policy. Such discussion will also affect the
Chinese dimension: on the one hand it will give the Chinese
the opportunity to make their views known, while on the
other, once public views in Hong Kong have been thoroughly
aired, it will make it
more difficult for the Chinese to
oppose policies which clearly have widespread local
support.
10. One point which the
Secretary of State might put to
the Governor is whether the re is any use ful additional
talent or expertise which could be provided from the UK in
this rather new situation. In this general context Mr Luce
suggested that we might consider seconding a Parliamentary
Clerk to Hong
Hong Kong to help in consideration of procedural
problems in LEGCO. There may be a case for this, but
but I do
not think it would help much in dealing with the sort of
problems which occurred over the LEGCO (Powers an d
Privileges) Bill. The proposals which were made for LEGCO
accord with the system at
were all ones which were
Westminster.
in
The problem over the Bil1 was more a question
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