TNAG-1439-FCO40-1923-Constitutional-development-in-Hong-Kong-1986 — Page 81

SECRET

ASSESSMENT OF PRESENT OPINION

THE GOVERNOR

6.

It was stated in the 1984 White Paper that the Governor will continue to be appointed formally by The Queen until

this. strong public support for was

1997 and there

was

proposals any

for

The

the

White

said Paper

that

change in

position and the role of the

the Governor would need to take

into account the provisions of the Joint Declaration and it stated that these important issues would be considered at a later stage. There has been little comment in Hong Kong on the position of the Governor in general, except as President of the Legislative Council (see para 7 below), and his position is not expected to be raised except in that

context.

THE GOVERNOR AS PRESIDENT OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

7.

For

It was originally proposed (in the Green Paper of July 1984) that the Governor should be replaced, in due course, by a presiding officer elected by the unofficial members of the Legislative Council from among their own number. Such a change could be introduced progressively in two stages. example, the first presiding officer might be appointed by the Governor after consultation with the unofficial members of the Legislative Council, but thereafter the presiding officer might be elected by the members of the Legislative Council every 3 years. In the White Paper it was noted that although the proposal to replace the Governor as presiding

officer was, on the whole,

the reasonably well

well received

general view was in favour of making no significant change

in the immediate future.

8.

There is, however, a potential conflict, which has been commented on in the Press, between the role of Governor as Chief Executive and as President of the Council. As Chief

Executive

he

is

responsible

for

the

of policies

the

SECRET