TNAG-1839-FCO40-2614-House-of-Commons-Select-Committee-on-Foreign-Affairs-enquiry-1989 — Page 24

taken by the British and Hong Kong Governments on the basis E their judgement of what would best suit Hong Kong's circumstances and Hong Kong's interests. The

steadily evolving system envisaged in the White Paper will ensure that representative government is well

established before 1997.

34. There is a body of opinion in Hong Kong which

claims that promises were made in the 1984 White Paper to

hold direct elections in 1988; and that these promises

were not fulfilled. There is no basis for this

allegation.

The 1984 White Paper undertook only to

review the position in 1988: that undertaking was

carried out fully and to the letter.

IX: Basic Law

35. The Joint Declaration provides that the policies of

China towards Hong Kong as stated in the Joint

Declaration and elaborated in Annex 1 will be stipulated

in a Basic Law and will remain unchanged for 50 years.

The Basic Law will be enacted and promulgated by the

Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

36. For the purpose of drafting the Basic Law, the

i

Chinese Government appointed a Basic Law Drafting

Committee (BLDC), comprising 59 members, 23 of them from

Hong Kong and the remainder from the mainland.

A Basic Law Consultative Committee (BLCC), consisting

exclusively of Hong Kong members representing a broad