TNAG-1468-FCO40-1997-Visits-by-members-of-the-Office-of-the-Unofficial-Members-of-1986 — Page 144

JUN 09 '86 20:14 GIS HK

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The Unofficial Members of the two Councils also banded themselves

The first together to deputise delegations to the two capitols. one was in May 1984 to London just before the debate in Parliament

The delegation met with ministers, on the future of Hong Kong. MPs and Lords to reflect the views and wishes of the people of Hong Kong.

Following this delegation to London, three Unofficial Members also visited Beijing in June 1984 and met with Chairman Deng

Apart from Xiaoping and other senior Chinese officials. reflecting the views and anxieties of the people of Hong Kong, they made three major proposals to the Chinese leaders, proposals which would help to maintain Hong Kong's prosperity

Notwithstanding the and stability. (See foot note at end*)

great controversy surrounding this particular mission to the Chinese capitol at that time, most of the two of these three proposals have now been accepted by the Chinese Government. is hopeful that eventually the Chinese Government will also accept part, if not all, of the third one,

However,

It

A

After two years of intense talks and a great deal of diplomacy and tact displayed by the Secretary of State, the negotiators eventually agreed by the end of September 1984 the draft text of the Agreement. As there was no electoral legislature in Hong Kong, there was advocation for a referendum. this did not, for political reasons, find favour in both British and Chinese Governments. Apart from the Special Assessment Office set up by the, British Government to receive comments from those who wished to make them, the Unofficial Members commissioned an independent research firm of international standing to conduct a territory-wide survey covering 6,000 randomly selected adults over the ago 18 years. The results of this professional survey indicated that the majority of the people of Hong Kong found the draft Agreement generally acceptable and that 90% of the respondents preferred the Agreement to no agreement at all.

The contents of the Agreement are now widely known but, for those present who are not familiar with the provisions, I would like to quote the three key features. First, HMG will continue to administer Hong Kong until 30 June 1997, after which the sovereignty of whole Hong Kong will be returned to China, Secondly, by 1 July 1997, Hong Kong will become a Special Administrative Region of China with a high degree of autonomy

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