TNAG-1442-FCO40-1926-Constitutional-development-in-Hong-Kong-1986 — Page 76

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"The Composition of the Legislature : Future of Seats now held by

appointed and official members

7.

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а

This paper sets out our ideas on ways in which

"semi-nominated" element could be continued in the SAR legislature,

without infringing the Joint Declaration principle that the

legislature should be elected. The a im

would be to provide

greater element of continuity in relation to the present system, which is familiar and perceived as effective, and to give the Chief

Executive a basis for support within the legislature which might in

practice otherwise be lacking.

8.

The paper also includes a short paragraph which seeks to

reassure the Chinese about

about the prospect of direct elections being

introduced before 1997, by noting that we believe it could be achieved without causing instability. Hong Kong had doubts about earlier versions of the paragraph, which they felt could give the Chinese the impression that our minds were already made up in favour

of direct elections. We feel that the paragraph, as we have now

redrafted it, is on balance reassuring rather than the reverse and should be retained: we shall be putting these arguments to Hong Kong overnight.

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'Basic Law Legal Issues"

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9.

hart Su

as now drafter, id Laure PRC alarm? (beetext)

This paper draws the attention of the Chinese to a number of

areas of legal difficulty which have come to light in discussion over the drafting of the Basic Law, namely:

(i) the

relationship between the Basic Law and the

Chinese Constitution;

(ii) the application of PRC basic statutes (for example on

nationality) to the Hong Kong SAR;

(iii) interpretation of the Basic Law;

(iv) a possible Bill of Rights.

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