1988-02-10
14:04 COI RADIO TECH SERVICES.
01 633 0920
FORRIGE BEC.
S
INTERVIEV "WORLD AT ONE" 10 FK 1988
-3-
INTERVIUVER:
It has been said by come in Hong Kong that you have been
influenced by the Chinese not to move too quickly towards direct
⚫lections.
What is your reply to that?
FORBION SECRETARY:
Our reply to that is that everyone in Hong Kong is anxious to
achieve a pattern of progress and a structure that will endure
strongly and effectively beyond 1997; that there is no point in
making quick changes one after the other for the sake of change. We
want to move at a sensible pace, and it is on that basis that we
have taken the decisions announced today.
INTERVIUVER:
The Chinese are meanwhile drafting the basic law that will
apply to Hong Kong, How is that drafting going and do you think
they will preserve the element of direct elections that you are
going to introduce eventually?
FOREIGN SECRETARY:
I think it is important that that should happen. The basic
law is being drafted by a Basic Law Drafting Committee which has got
a very large representation of people from Hong Kong on it, and it
has not yet taken its final draft form, but all the signs are that
that itself is going to provide for direct elections in one of
several possible forms. That is one of the reasons why it is
Important to try and achieve a pattern of continuity here.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.