TNAG-1845-FCO40-2620-House-of-Commons-Select-Committee-on-Foreign-Affairs-enquiry-1989 — Page 65

THE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

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22 March 1989]

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China as a result of the Korean war. As a measure of the size of the problem, Hong Kong's population rose sharply from about 600,000 in August 1945 to an estimated 1.8 million by the end of 1947, and to some 2.2 million by the middle of 1950.

29. The priority for a large proportion of this transient and highly mobile population was that Hong Kong should be an environment in which they could settle and make a prosperous living, rather than the development of representative government. It was not until the mid 1960s that consideration of constitutional changes resumed, but again external events intervened: the Cultural Revolution in China and the consequential disturbances in Hong Kong threatened the very existence of the territory. A further consideration, to which many people in the community attached particular weight, was the fear that the introduction of party politics on western lines would serve to polarise the community and to reproduce in Hong Kong the rivalries that continued to exist between the Chinese Communists and Nationalists. Such rivalries could have had a seriously destabilising effect on the territory. Local attitudes were no doubt also influenced by the feeling that China would be opposed to the introduction of an elected system; and by the desire not to upset the delicate balance which permitted Hong Kong to continue to exist as an enclave on the coast of China.

30. For all these reasons, there were considerable reservations within the community as a whole about the idea of election-based representative government. Instead the Hong Kong Government sought consensus through an extensive network of consultation boards and committees (now over 400), which enable members of the public to give their advice on all areas of government activity. This system served Kong Kong very well for many years. But as the population became increasingly settled and sophisticated, care was taken to ensure the system evolved in a way which met the requirements and aspirations of Hong Kong people, while maintaining stability, effective administration and economic prosperity.

31. The introduction of elected representatives into the institutions of government began in effect in the early 1970s, when direct elections on a limited franchise were introduced for half the membership of the Urban Council (the statutory council with responsibilities for the provision of municipal services to inhabitants of the main urban areas of Hong Kong). In 1982 District Boards were established on a territory-wide base to serve as a forum for public consultation and participation in administration at the district level. In 1986 the Regional Council was established as the statutory authority with responsi- bility for the area outside the jurisdiction of the Urban Council. Elections to the Urban Council (since 1981), Regional Council and District Boards now take place on a geographical constituency basis, with a broad franchise embracing all residents who are 21 years of age or over and have lived in Hong Kong for seven years or more.

32. The development of a more representative form of government at the central level also began in the 1970s, with the expansion of the Legislative Council to include more members who are not officials. Such members formed a majority of the Council for the first time in 1976, and by 1984 they constituted 62.5 per cent of the membership (ie 29 out of the then total of 47 members). But there were no elected members of the Legislative Council when the Joint Declaration was signed: all were appointed. Following public consultation on the basis of a Green Paper published in July 1984, the Hong Kong Government announced in their White Paper of November 1984 that an indirectly elected element would be introduced into the Legislative Council as from October 1985. 12 members of the enlarged Council of 56 were duly elected from “functional” constituencies based on major professional and occupational groups; 12 others were elected on a geographical basis by an electoral college comprising all members of the Urban and Regional Councils and District Boards. The other 32 members of the Legislative Council were either officials (10) or appointed members (22).

33. The 1984 White Paper also considered the question of direct elections to the Legislative Council. The Hong Kong Government noted that although there was a strong public support for the idea of direct elections, there was little support for such elections in the immediate future. They undertook to hold a review in 1987, before the 1988 elections, to give an opportunity for further consultation about the development of representative government, including specifically the introduction of direct elections.

34. The review duly took place in 1987. The options were set out in a Green Paper "The 1987 Review of Developments in Representative Government" published in May that year. It covered many aspects of representative government, among them the question of whether, and if so when, there should be a directly elected element in the Legislative Council. A Survey Office was set up to collect and report on public opinion on the Green Paper. It operated outside the ordinary machinery of government and without interference from the administration. Two independent monitors were appointed to oversee its work and to ensure that the Office carried out its duties in a fair and objective way. The Review generated considerable public interest. The sounding of public opinion took many forms and did not rely solely on the results of individual polls or surveys, though a number were held and their results taken into account. Care was taken to obtain a representative overall picture.