TNAG-1983-FCO40-2816-Presentation-of-UK-policy-on-Hong-Kong-to-the-media-1989 — Page 54

KOFADC

VIII : REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT IN HONG KONG

1. The system of government in Hong Kong has evolved in a way which has reflected the particular circumstances of the territory. Hong Kong's population grew from about 600,000 in August 1945, to about

2.2 million in 1950. Since then the population has increased by

about 1 million each decade. In the years immediately after the war

the priority for most in Hong Kong was to ensure that the large increases in population could be accommodated in Hong Kong and could

make a living. Prospects for modest constitutional reform were made

but external events intervened. The Korean war meant that Hong Kong

lost its traditional entrepot trade with China. In the 1960's the cultural revolution in China and the consequential disturbances in

Hong Kong threatened the very existence of the territory.

2.

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.

This system

3. 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. served Hong Kong very well for many years. But as the population became increasingly settled and sophisticated, care was taken to

ensure that the system evolved in a way which met the requirements

and aspirations of Hong Kong people, while maintaining stability, effective administration and economic prosperity.