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political cause was matched by an upsurge of interest in establishing
democratic political institutions in the Territory widely and quickly. The role played by the military in Beijing and elsewhere in China gave
a new and sinister focus to the recognition in the Joint Declaration
that, as an inevitable consequence of the transfer of sovereignty, the PLA could be based in Hong Kong after June 1997 if the PRC so wished.
All this coincided with the imposition of sanctions against the PRC
by the international community. In the case of the UK, the sanctions included suspension of the work of the JLG; consultation on the draft
of the post-1997 Basic Law was also suspended.
11. In the face of the immediate crisis, the British and Hong Kong
Governments looked at a package of measures aimed at restoring
confidence; these included a greater degree of elective democracy, a
commitment to a Bill of Rights, a British Nationality Scheme and a
major public works programme centred on a new international airport
and port developments.
12. The PRC reacted to developments in Hong Kong by accusing the
Territory of allowing itself to become a hotbed of subversion of the
mainland. In October 1989, as a mark of displeasure over a difficult political asylum case, China refused for a 3 week period to take back
illegal immigrants (IIs) being repatriated from Hong Kong. This led
to a rapid build up in number of IIs held in the border area and
concern within the Territory at this display of the PRC's potential
capability for retaliatory disruption. Meanwhile, the denunciations
from Peking subdued some political activists and made many in Hong
Kong more circumspect in their pronouncements. In so far as Hong Kong
had been taught a lesson, it was hardly conducive for confidence in
the future.
13.
The Basic Law was finalised early in 1990. It effectively
postpones the introduction of full elective democracy into Hong Kong
until the next century. In order to preserve as much "convergence"
as possible between developments in Hong Kong prior to 1997 and
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