TNAG-2047-FCO40-2917-Visits-by-staff-of-the-Department-of-Trade-and-Industry-to-H-1990 — Page 140

9.

Following the events in early June 1989 in China there was growing pressure in Hong Kong for a faster pace of democratisation than was set out in the 1988 White Paper. The unofficial members of the Executive and Legislative Councils (OMELCO) recommended on 27 July that one third of the Legislative Council should be directly elected in 1991 and that there should be no less than 50% directly elected members of LegCo in 1995 (which would run through 1997). However these percentages were higher than was provided for in the second draft of the Basic Law, which only envisaged 15 seats in 1995/7. There follows a period of tough negotiations between the Chinese and British Governments

about Hong Kong's future political development, stressing the importance of a more rapid process than was envisaged in the second draft of the Basic Law and the need to ensure

that the political system as a whole was one which Hong Kong people would find acceptable. On 16 February 1990 the

Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary announced the

Government's intention to introduce 18 directly elected

seats in 1991 and at least 20 in 1995. This is a

substantially greater first step towards full democracy in

Hong Kong than was planned two years ago. It is only two seats less than OMELCO recommended and is eight seats more than the 10 seats which were originally envisaged in 1988. The final version of the Basic Law provided further

progression from 1997 onwards, rising to 24 seats in 1999 and 30 seats (fifty percent of the legislature remainder being indirectly elected members) in 2003, with the possibility that full direct elections could be

introduced in 2007.

10.

-

the

Most people in Hong Kong welcome the fact that a clear direction has now been set and that a major uncertainty for the future of the territory has been removed. This reaction was reflected in the positive and forward-looking statement issued by OMELCO in February. The community in Hong Kong recognise that their task now is to work together to make a

success of the first direct elections in 1991 and to

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