"election" was to mean became the main issue. Even though it might eventually be stated in the Basic Law that "the ultimate aim" is election by universal suffrage in respect of both the Chief Executive and the members of the Legislature, "election" and "elections" in the Joint Declaration were not necessarily going to be interpreted unreservedly as meaning direct elections in the immediate future[37]
There had been no elections for membership Hong Kong when the Joint and Chinese policy was "The Hong Kong, except where
of the Legislative Council in Declaration was signed in 1984, existing political system in modification is necessary as stipulated in the Sino-British Joint Declaration, should be changed as little as possible. The less change the better" [38]
Opinion in Hong Kong significant elements in the business
was divided;
community shared this antipathy for political change [39] ̧ but the prospect of the disappearance in 1997 of a colonial administration answerable
to a democratic government in London produced a movement in Hong Kong which sought in place of the latter an SAR legislature with democratic credentials to which an SAR government would be answerable.
In the event, the argument between the different viewpoints came down to what would be an acceptable combination of direct and indirect elections and the rate of increase in the number and proportion of directly elected members in the Legislature. However, even though the Chinese were clear as to their aims; the BLDC found great difficulty in formulating a legislative text. One of the Chinese members of the BLDC noted that the Basic Law Consultative Committee had compiled a list of 39 suggestions with regard to the Chief Executive and 21 suggestions about
the
composition
of
22
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