TNAG-1470-FCO40-1999-Visits-by-Chinese-officials-to-Hong-Kong-1986 — Page 115

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I said I did

give rise to political parties. not see political parties developing with platforms and a mass membership but rather alliances between candidates. Somehow or other we had to accommodate the pressure for direct elections. In response to his remark that without parties he could not envisage a ministerial system I said that I too could not see a ministerial system developing. The system was developing accountability in other ways. Convergence was important, work on drafting the Basic Law and the views of members of the Consultative Committee were important. I would expect a unity of views rather than one view expressed on the Green Paper and a different one on the Basic Law. A solution would gradually emerge over the next few weeks and months. Functional Constituencies were supported and successful and might be further developed nevertheless we had to find a way to meeting demands for direct elections.

I stressed the equal importance of ensuring that the "principal officials" were selected and trained and in place in time and that we were taking steps to do this.

The Joint Declaration had become an important reference document for us all and time and again

one was able to turn to it.

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Emphasised