TNAG-1721-FCO40-2401-Hong-Kong-1987-Review-of-Representative-Government-delegati-1988 — Page 160

Prepared by TDC/HK.

!

DOCRACY DELEGATION GREEN PAPER

SUMMARY OF MAIN ARGUMENTS

* The HK public expected the 1987 review to determine how direct elections would be introduced in 1988 and still overwhelmingly favours their introduction this year.

China has pressured Britain/HK to delay their introduction until after the promulgation of the Basic Law, whose first draft is this

year.

This delay allows little time for a directly elected legislature to gain experience and confidence before 1997.

* It is Britain's responsibility to see that the terms of the Agreement are fully, faithfully implemented in the Basic Law.

* The British Government is only making a technical point when it says that it did not promise direct elections for 1988.

* HK is undergoing a quiet confidence crisis, with an estimated 38% of professionals indicating (through surveys) that they would be able to and might leave the territory.

* Convergence is no longer an issue because China has disclosed it will dissolve the pre-1997 legislature and introduce a provisional legislature to be elected by a grand electoral college.

*

A democratically chosen and supported Hong Kong' legislature is the only way to implement the policy of "one country, two systems"

1

1