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25.
DSR 11C (Revised 5/87)
Ministers have taken a close interest in the implementation of the Joint Declaration. The work of the JLG has featured regularly in the Foreign Secretary's talks with his Chinese counterpart and in other exchanges at Ministerial level.
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PRIVACY MARKING
26. A key aspect of the implementation of the Joint Declaration is the drafting of the Basic Law. This is dealt with in Section XI of this memorandum.
In Confidence
VIII:
Hong Kong
Development of representative government in
27. The system of government in Hong Kong has evolved in a way which has reflected the particular
circumstances of the territory. In the case of other
British dependent territories, our policy has been to promote the development of democracy as part of the preparations for eventual independence.
In the case of
Hong Kong, there has never been any question of it becoming an independent state.
Entirely different
considerations have applied. In the decades following
the Second World War, the main priority of the Hong Kong Government was to absorb and accommodate a very large
migrant population, mainly from China. A large
proportion of this transient and highly mobile population had little knowledge of, or interest in, democracy. It. was not until 1981 that more than 50 per cent of the
population of Hong Kong were actually born in the
territory. A further consideration, to which many people:
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