TNAG-1396-FCO40-1868-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Basic-Law-1985 — Page 50

GR 1200

RESTRICTED

HKK040/21

RESTRICTED

FM HONG KONG 02080OZ JUL 35.

TO PRIORITY FCO

TELEGRAM NUMBER 1323 OF 2 JULY

ん

INFO ROUTINE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT OFFICE LONDON, PEKING, HK GOVT REPS WASHINGTON, CG NEW YORK, BRUSSELS, UKMIS GENEVA, UKMIS GENEVA

FUTURE OF HONG KONG: PRESS COVERAGE: WEEKLY ROUNDUP.

SUMMARY:

1. AGAIN THE BASIC LAW WAS THE DOMINANT STORY. THERE WAS SOME INTEREST IN THE LAND COMMISSION AND THE EXTENSION OF PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES TO THE LAND COMMISSION AND JLG EXPERTS.

NEWS COVERAGE:

2. BASIC LAW: PAPERS TODAY WERE DOMINATED BY THE OPENING SESSION OF THE BASIC LAW DRAFTING COMMITTEE, AND THE ADDRESS BY JI PENGFEI, IN WHICH HE STRESSED THAT HK PEOPLE'S VIEWS WOULD BE SOLICITED ON A WIDE BASIS. HE SAID THAT HONG KONG PEOPLE'S VIEWS WOULD BE SOUGHT IN THE SECOND HALF OF THIS YEAR: AND THAT THE COMMITTEE WOULD MEET AGAIN IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF NEXT YEAR TO DISCUSS WHAT SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN THE BL. AN INITIAL DRAFT WOULD BE COMPLETED BY 1982 FOR DISCUSSION BY HK PEOPLE. BASED ON THE VIEWS COLLECTED, THE DRAFT WOULD BE REVISED AND REISSUED FOR FURTHER CONSULTATION. IT WOULD BE REVIEWED AGAIN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1989 AND WOULD BE PUT BEFORE THE NPC FOR APPROVAL IN THE FIRST HALF OF 1990. SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE COMMITTEE LI HOU SAID HE HOPED THAT THE HK MEMBERS WOULD ACTIVELY ORGANISE A BL CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE. SOME PAPERS NOTED THAT HK MEMBERS HAD SELECTED SIX OF THEIR NUMBER, (RAYSON HUANG, MARTIN LEE, DOROTHY LIU, MR JUSTICE LI, SZETO WAH AND MARIA TAM) TO COLLECT FELLOW HK MEMBERS' VIEWS SYSTEM- ATICALLY AND COMPILE A REPORT FOR REFERENCE. SING TAO JIH PAO AND ORIENTAL DAILY (SOTH INDEPENDENT) REPORTED THAT INTERNATIONAL LAW RESEARCH CENTRES AT HARVARD AND OXFORD HAD INFORMED DOROTHY LIU THAT THEY WOULD BE WILLING TO PROVIDE RESEARCH BACK-UP FOR THE BL DRAFTING. IT WAS NOTED THAT THE DRAFTING COMMITTEE WOULD MEET IN SUB-GROUPS OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS, THE FIRST TO BE CONVENED BY T.K. ANN, XU JIATUN AND DAVID LI: THE SECOND BY SIR Y.K. PAO AND HU SHENG: AND THE THIRD BY FEI YIMIN, FEI XIAOTONG AND WANG HANBIN.

3. EARLIER IN THE WEEK, THE PRESS COVERED A DINNER GIVEN BY NCNA FOR THE HK MEMBERS OF THE DRAFTING COMMITTEE, AND THE DEPARTURE OF THE HK MEMBERS FOR PEKING. WEN WEI PO QUOTED INFORMED SOURCES AS SAYING THAT SOME MEMBERS FELT THAT THE BL SHOULD HAVE FOUR PARTS: DEFINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BL AND THE CHINESE CONSTIT- UTION: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE HK SAR AND THE CENTRAL GOVERN- MENT: LAYING DOWN THE POLITICAL STRUCTURE OF THE HK SAR: AND SPECIFYING THE RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF THE PEOPLE IN THE SAR.

RESTRICHED

14.

59