TNAG-1441-FCO40-1925-Constitutional-development-in-Hong-Kong-1987 — Page 88

GRS 950

RESTRICTED

FM HONG KONG

TO PRIORITY FCO

TELNO 2223

OF 10035OZ JULY 86

#INFO PRIORITY PEKİNG|

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01111

RECVL N WRGIST

HKK

Astute

PANUL

25 JUL 1986

дав 25).

HONG KONG AGREEMENT : RESTRICTED : REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT AND

THE BASHC LAW

THE JUST-PUBLISHED (JULY) EDITION OF THE MIRROR MAGAZINE CONTINUED.

ITS SERIES OF ARTICLES, UNDER THE BY-LINE OF KOO SING-FA!

ON THE FUTURE POLITICAL SYSTEM OF HONG KONG. HOWEVER, THE ARTICLE

THIS TIME CHANGED ITS TONE CONSIDERABLY AND FOCUSED ON THE

DEVELOPMENT OF REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT IN HONG KONG, IN

PARTICULAR THE QUESTION OF DIRECT ELECTIONS.

2. THE ARTICLE FIRST DREW ON SOME PUBLIC STATEMENTS RECENTLY MADE

BY THE GOVERNOR, SIR S.Y. CHUNG, MARHA TAM AND ALLEN LEE, AND

INTERPRETED THESE AS HANDICATING THAT THE BRITISH POSITION WAS FOR

THE SEPARATION OF THE EXECUTIVE, LEGISLATURE AND JUDICIARY, AND

TO HAVE CHECKS AND BALANCES BETWEEN THE EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATURE.

NT THEN CONCLUDED THAT THIS WAS AN INDICATION OF THE

BRITISH AND CHINESE SIDES HAVING TACIT UNDERSTANDING OVER THE

CONVERGENCE OF REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT AND THE FUTURE SAR'S

POLITICAL SYSTEM. THE CONSENSUS OF THE TWO SIDES COULD ALSO BE

BORNE OUT BY THE CHINESE POSITION REVEALED BY PEKING AT THE SAME

TIME (REFERENCE IN THIS CONTEXT WAS MADE TO L HOU'S STATEMENTS

ON ACCOUNTABILITY''). SINCE BOTH SIDES HELD NO DIVERGENT VIEWS,

THEY SHOULD BE ABLE TO HAVE BETTER CO-OPERATION IN RESOLVING

PROBLEMS OF TRANSITION,

3. THE ARTICLE WENT ON TO SAY THAT FOLLOWING THE DEBATE ON WHETHER

THERE SHOULD BE CHANGES IN THE POLITICAL SYSTEM, HONG KONG PEOPLE

WOULD FOCUS THEIR ATTENTION ON THE 1987 REVIEW OF REPRESENTATIVE

GOVERNMENT, WHICH MIN FACT HAD STARTED QUIETLY. THE CRUCIAL

QUESTION OF THE REVIEW WAS HOW TO DEAL WITH DIRECT ELECTIONS.

4. CRITICISMS WERE THEN LAND ON THE 1984 WHITE PAPER, WHICH IN THE

WRITER'S VIEW HAD HASTILY ADVANCED THE 1984 GREEN PAPER'S TIMETABLE

IN REVIEWING DIRECT ELECTION BY TWO YEARS. THIS IN TURN CAUSED

SOME HICCUPS IN IMPLEMENTATION :

(A) SINCE CONSTITUENCIES GROUPED UNDER THE ELECTORAL COLLEGES WERE

TOO SMALL, THERE WERE NEVITABLY CONSTRAINTS OF OLD COMMUNITY LINKS AND REGIONAL INTERESTS. AS A CONSEQUENCE, CONFLICTS AROSE

FREQUENTLY.

(B) AMONG THE FUNCTIONAL CONSTITUENCIES, THERE WERE SOME WHICH WERE NOT GIVEN ANY SEATS, AND SOME WHICH HAD ONE SEAT REPRESENTING

SEVERAL DIFFERENT SECTORS.

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