immediately ahead, the government of Hong Kong will be developed
on increasingly representative lines."
Three months later, in July
Government issued
Green a
Paper: "The
Future
1984, the Hong Kong
Development
of
Representative Government in Hong Kong."
In this Green Paper,
the Government's aim was given as: "to develop progressively a
system of government the authority for which is firmly rooted in
Hong Kong, which is able to represent authoritatively the views
of the people of Hong Kong, and which is more directly
accountable to the people of Hong Kong."
The Green Paper tackled head-on the thorny question of
direct elections to the Legislative Council on the principle of
universal adult suffrage noting that "suggestions have been made
that direct elections to the Legislative Council based on a
universal franchise should be introduced as soon as possible"
and that "such arrangements are a standard feature of many
democratic systems of government".
In the words of Sir Geoffrey Howe spoken in Commons on
18th July 1984 (some 2 months before the conclusion of the draft
Agreement on the Future of Hong Kong) in answer to an inquiry by
Mr. Peter Bottomley, "those proposals are well designed to
status of Hong Kong's Central
the
enhance the representative
Government institutions and to give the Hong Kong
Kong people a
stronger voice in the administration of
in the territory
years to come. The people of Hong Kong will now be putting
forward their views, which will be taken into account in a
subsequent White Paper".
3
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