TNAG-2221-FCO40-3189-Constitutional-development-in-Hong-Kong-role-of-the-Legislat-1991 — Page 129

CONFIDENTIAL

FM FCO

TO PRIORITY HONG KONG

TELNO 1878

OF 23100OZ OCT 91

INFO PRIORITY PEKING, UKREP JLG HONG KONG

14. DIST? кро

CONFIDENTIAL

By Sy

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Constit

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074210

MDLOAN 7228

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OP COPY

PERSONAL FOR POLITICAL ADVISER FROM RICKETTS,

4

YOUR TELNO 3255: CHINESE ATTITUDES TO LEGCO

HKD

1.

WE AGREE THAT IT IS WORTH CONTINUING TO MAKE CLEAR TO THE CHINESE THAT THEIR ATTEMPT TO BELITTLE LEGCO'S ROLE IS BOTH UNHELPFUL AND FACTUALLY WRONG. WE ARE CONTENT FOR YOU TO MAKE THE GENERAL POINT IN BACKGROUND BRIEFING THAT THE PHRASE ''ADVICE AND CONSENT'' AS APPLIED TO LEGCO, IS SIMILAR TO THE WORDING USED TO DESCRIBE THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT TO THE CROWN. BOTH CASES THE ROLE IS MORE THAN ADVISORY AND BOTH PARTICIPATE ACTIVELY IN LEGISLATION.

2. HOWEVER, THE ANALOGY CANNOT BE PUSHED TOO FAR: THE POWERS OF LEGCO AND PARLIAMENT ARE NOT VIRTUALLY IDENTICAL'. FOR EXAMPLE THE QUEEN HAS THE POWER TO DISALLOW LEGISLATION PASSED BY LEGCO, WHICH IS NOT, AS YOU KNOW, THE CASE OF THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT.

3. WE LEAVE IT TO YOUR DISCRETION HOW TO TAKE THIS FORWARD IN HONG KONG. WE SEE SOME RISK THAT INVOLVING THE HONG KONG PRESS TOO MUCH COULD BE COUNTERPRODUCTIVE: WE MIGHT END UP SEEMING TO OVERSTATE LEGCO'S CONSTITUTIONAL POSITION IN A RESPONSE TO CHINESE ATTEMPTS TO DOWNPLAY IT.

HURD

IN

YYYY

1

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CONFIDENTIAL