CHINESE ATTITUDE
7.
concern
We have received recently (at Foreign Minister
in June and through a variety of unofficial sources)
expressions of
on the part of the Chinese
level
proceeding too
fast.
careful not to
private messages
Government that constitutional change in Hong Kong may be
Although the Chinese have been
comment publicly in this sense, their
indicate that they suspect that we are
political institutions with the a im
carrying Hong Kong towards a more independent status they are prepared to con template. We have assured that we are moving very prudently and that our reforms have the preservation of stability as a fundamental aim.
developing local
LEGCO (POWERS AND PRIVILEGES) BILL
8.
of
document,
of
than
them
An episode on the path of constitutional developmenet which aroused controversy earlier this year was the passage the LEGCO (Powers and Privileges) Bill. This codified,
for the first time in
the powers
privileges of the Council. arrangements thought necessary new style LEGCO.
one
and
It was drafted as part of the
for the introduction of the
9.
press
subjected to vociferous criticism
clauses relative
defamation
to
The draft Bill was
from the
because of
which, while standard in similar legislation in other former dependent territories, could in the press' view have been used to gag legitimate comment on the proceedings of the Council (particularly, they suspected, by a draconian regime
Hong Kong Government eventually to withdraw or modify these clauses.
after 1997).
The
had
10.
Ironically
the Chinese
s aw the
Bill
as further
evidence of a British plan to give excessive independence to Hong Kong's legislature, which it would be hard for them
to
overturn
after
1997.
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