TNAG-1440-FCO40-1924-Constitutional-development-in-Hong-Kong-1986 — Page 102

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PAPER NO

THE QUESTION OF CONVERGENCE

1.

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During the meeting of the Joint Liaison Group in

Peking in November 26-29 1985 both sides agreed on the

need to achieve convergence between

any reforms to the structure of government in Hong Kong before 1997 and the structure of the Government of the Hong Kong SAR after

1997, and to conduct discussions and exchange views on this subject without preconceived ideas.

2. The development of Representative government in Hong Kong has been based on the principle of building on the

existing institutions which have served Hong Kong well: while allowing for further development, if that should be

wish of the community. Paper No. 1 describes how the

present governmental institutions in Hong Kong operate in

practice and the inter-relationship of the various elements in the government structure in particular the Governor,

the Executive Council and the Legislative Council.

3.

Paper No. 2 describes the present state of Hong Kong

opinion on the further development of the governmental system following the review in 1987. Essentially there is

likely to be little call for any fundamental change in the

structure: the main attention is likely to be focussed on

the question of introducing a number of directly elected

seats into the Legislative Council and on that of the

Presidency of that Council.

THE JOINT DECLARATION

4.

Under Article 3(12) of the Joint Declaration the

policies stated in the Declaration, and the elaboration of

them in Annex 1 to the

the Declaration, will be stipulated in the Basic Law: the Joint Declaration contains a number of

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