TNAG-2168-FCO40-3105-House-of-Commons-Foreign-Affairs-Committee-inquiry-into-Hong-1990 — Page 262

ACTIONS WITHIN HONG KONG

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Constitutional Development

Took careful note of Committee's belief that full democracy should

be introduced before 1997 and that, consistent with maintaining a

necessary degree of continuity, should be introduced as soon as

possible (paragraph 3.10). The Government also noted the

Committee's belief that Hong Kong people must be allowed to decide

on their own system of government before 1997. Our aim throughout

has been to introduce a degree of democracy which meets Hong Kong's

aspirations and which can continue and increase in the years ahead.

It would have been pointless to have devised a system which resulted

in a deadend in 1997 and caused a breakdown in cooperation with

China. Such a policy would have been quite contrary to Hong Kong's

interests. We would have been strongly criticised if we had gone

down that path.

Our decision to introduce 18 directly elected seats in 1991 is a

substantial step forward. It is only two seats less than the

proposals put forward by OMELCO in July 1989 but significantly more

than the 10 seats which were originally envisaged in the Hong Kong Government's 1988 White Paper. In return for this we have secured a

continuous upward slope in the development of democracy from 18

seats in 1991 to 30 seats in 2003, with the possibility that full

direct elections could be introduced in 2007. This rate of progress

is not as fast as many people in Hong Kong or we ourselves would have liked. But the overall reaction in Hong Kong has been one of

relief that a major uncertainty for the future of the territory has

been removed. As OMELCO has recognised, our goal now is to make a

success of the 1991 elections (quote OMELCO statement). We shall

continue our efforts to persuade the Chinese that a faster pace of

democracy in Hong Kong would be both manageable and desirable. That

is why the number of directly elected seats in 1995 has been left

open.

Green Paper on Electoral Law

Noted Committee's recommendation for a Green Paper to canvas views

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