TNAG-1840-FCO40-2615-House-of-Commons-Select-Committee-on-Foreign-Affairs-enquiry-1989 — Page 69

DSR 11C (Revised 5/87)

constituencies, replacing 10 seats presently elected by

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION district-based electoral college constituencies.

Top Secret

Secret

Confidential

Restricted

Unclassified

PRIVACY MARKING

In Confidence

36.

Although some people were disappointed, the

1988 White Paper was generally accepted in Hong Kong as a

significant step forward in the territory's

constitutional development. The decisions in the White

Paper were taken by the British and Hong Kong Governments

on the basis of their judgement of what would command the

widest possible support in the community as a whole and

which would best suit Hong Kong's circumstances and Hong

Kong's interests. The arrangements envisaged in the

White Paper will ensure that a representative system of

government is well established before 1997.

IX: Basic Law

37.

The Joint Declaration provides that the policies of

China towards Hong Kong as stated in the Joint

Declaration and elaborated in Annex I will be stipulated

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

38.

For the purpose of drafting the Basic Law, the

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

spectrum of Hong Kong opinion, was established by the