TNAG-1472-FCO40-2003-Ministerial-visits-from-the-UK-to-Hong-Kong-1986 — Page 83

CONFIDENTIAL

Basic Law

4.

society,

of

a

wide

cross-section

expatriates.

The

Consultative

Annex I to the Joint Declaration, setting out

setting out the detailed is to be policies for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, enshrined in a Basic Law. The Chinese have established a Basic Law Drafting Committee (BLDC) to begin work on

on this including a number

of Kong residents (23 out

The total a

of 59 members). of Hong Kong residents Chinese have also established a Basic Law Consultative Committee in

from of 180 members Hong Kong consisting of

including 15 Hong Kong Committee has embarked on a series of meetings to discuss various

Basic Law. The intention is that aspects of the

is that the Consultative Committee, by virtue of its widely drawn membership, should reflect all shades of Hong Kong opinion to the Drafting Committee. welcomed the Chinese intention to consult widely in Hong Kong on the drafting of the Basic Law. The BLDC has now met on three occasions

and has established

established five special

five special sub-groups to handle particularly sensitive issues, such as the political system.

We have

CONFIDENTIAL

M