TNAG-1440-FCO40-1924-Constitutional-development-in-Hong-Kong-1986 — Page 50

GRS 1150

SECRET

FM HONG KONG

TO IMMEDIATE FCO

SECRET

HKK Ouff

RECE

TELNO 1452

OF 12104OZ MAY 86

*INFO IMMEDIATE PEKING

INDE

..17

16 MAY 1986

TRY

TOP COPY

tion Taken

AB 1616

241) MIPT: HONG KONG AGREEMENT THE POLITICAL SCENE IN HONG KONG.

1. THERE HAS BEEN A SUBSTANTIAL CHANGE IN THE POLITICAL SCENE IN HONG KONG OVER THE LAST FOUR YEARS.

2. 1982 WAS THE YEAR IN WHICH THE NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE CHINESE ON THE FUTURE OF HONG KONG BEGAN, AND ALSO THE YEAR OF THE FIRST DIRECT ELECTIONS TO DISTRICT BOARDS AND TO THE URBAN COUNCIL ON A CONSTITUENCY BASIS. THERE FOLLOWED THE CREATION OF A NEW REGIONAL COUNCIL IN THE NEW TERRITORIES, MEASURES TO EXPAND REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT INTO A SUBSTANTIALLY ENLARGED LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL (LEGCO) AND IN 1984 THE AGREEMENT WATH CHINA. THESE EVENTS SET IN TRAIN A PROCESS WHICH S PROFOUNDLY CHANGING THE POLITICAL SCENE IN HONG KONG: AND MODIFYING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HONG KONG AND LONDON, AND BETWEEN HONG KONG AND PEKING.

3. THE NEGOTIPATIONS ON HONG KONG'S FUTURE BROUGHT THE HONG KONG EXECUTIVE COUNCIL (EXCO) INTO A NEW RELATIONSHIP WITH MINISTERS IN LONDON. UNTIL 1982 THE QUESTION OF THE FUTURE WAS TREATED LARGELY AS ONE BETWEEN HMG AND THE GOVERNOR. BY EARLY 1983 THE COUNCIL HAD BEEN BROUGHT INTO FULL CONSULTATION WITH HMG. A PUBLIC STATEMENT FOLLOWING THE MEETING AT NO 10 DOWNING STREET JUST BEFORE THE ENITIALLING OF THE AGREEMENT STRESSED THE VALUE OF THIS CONSULTATION AND GAVE AN ASSURANCE THAT MIT WOULD CONTINUE. THE ASSURANCE NOW LIES AT THE HEART OF THE LONDON HONG KONG RELATIONSHIP.

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4. MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCHL (LEGCO), THEN ALL APPOINTED, WERE BRIEFED ON THE NEGOTIATIONS IN GENERAL TERMS AND IN CONFIDENCE, A CONFIDENCE WHICH THEY RESPECTED. THIS DND NOT DETER THEM FROM SPEAKING UP FOR WHAT THEY SAW AS HONG KONG'S ESSENTIAL INTERESTS. THEY DECLINED TO BE SILENCED EVEN UN THE FACE OF CHINESE DISAPPROVAL.

5. THESE EVENTS ALONE WOULD HAVE ENHANCED THE STANDING OF THE TWO COUNCILS IN THE EYES OF THE PUBLIC. THE SELECTION OF MORE THAN HALF THE MEMBERSHIP OF A SUBSTANTIALLY ENLARGED LEGCO THROUGH INDIRECT ELECTIONS, WHICH MADE THE COUNCIL MORE OBVIOUSLY REPRESENTATIVE, CONTRIBUTED TO THE SAME RESULT. BOTH EXCO AND LEGCO ARE NOW MORE CONFIDENT OF THEIR STATUS AND MORE INSISTENT ON THEIR QUALIFICATION TO SPEAK ON BEHALF OF THE PEOPLE OF HONG KONG.

SEGRET

16.

242

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