TNAG-1442-FCO40-1926-Constitutional-development-in-Hong-Kong-1986 — Page 108

CONFIDENTIAL

HKK

RECEIVED IN REGISTRY

14 OCT 1986

Mr

Hám

DF: INDEX

PA

REGISTRY Action Taken

224 823/9 24th 28/9 011/16 I have gleit

376

Sed 377

croma

FROM:

Paul Fifoot

DATE:

18 September 1986

c.c.

Dr Wilson

HONG KONG:

STRUCTURE OF GOVERNMENT

373

1. I have seen your submission of 12′ September and various comments on it. There are obvious problems about a number of matters raised, particularly about the legislature and its relationship with the Executive. I will defer commenting on the latter until we have received the Governor's paper en- visaged in paragraph 4 of your submission of 18 September.

2.

There is one point about the legislature to which I should draw your attention now. I don't think this has been taken up by the other minuting. This relates to the proposal that the Basic Law will prescribe the proportion of seats in the legis- lature to be filled by direct and indirect elections. You fear that this would have the effect of freezing the structure of the Hong Kong legislature for the next 60 years.

3.

This raises the issue of what provision will be made for composition of the legislature and what provision will be made for amending the original provision. Do you envisage that the Basic Law will merely provide that there should be a Legisla- tive Council and go on to authorise some other instrument to establish the numbers and classes of the legislators? I would doubt whether if this were to be done, the Basic Law would envisage that the other legal instrument would be a law of the Hong Kong legislature. Would the Chinese be willing to devolve the power to vary the legislature to the legislature itself? If there were to be some form of devolution of the right to amend the composition of the legislature, would it not be more likely to be conferred on the NPC?

4.

Is not a more likely possibility a statement in the Basic Law of the composition of the legislature and either an express or an implied provision that that composition can only be changed by an amendment to the Basic Law? If this is the case, do we really have a problem with the Basic Law initially sett- ing out proportions?

Pod Spor

H

Paul Fifoot

Legal Advisers

CONFIDENTIAL