TNAG-2329-FCO40-3373-Hong-Kong-contacts-with-academics-and-writers-1991 — Page 218

held over for the SARG had ever been a point of great difficulty.

Democratisation

Mr Roberti asked whether introduction in the early 1980s of universal suffrage at district level was a way round

9.

to

Chinese opposition to direct elections/LegCo. You dismissed this: democratisation of Hong Kong was underway at a cautious pace due not to Chinese opposition but lack of local enthusiasm for fear that electoral politics would lead to influence in Hong Kong from factions in the Chinese civil

war.

10. Mr Roberti wondered why the Chinese had not opposed

the introduction to LegCo of functional constituency elections (July 1984 green paper). You said that we had not

been able to get a commitment from the Chinese about the

kind of elections that were to return LegCo after 1997. The

proposal for functional constituencies originated in Hong

Kong, not Peking or London but it was true the Chinese had

not opposed it. Mr Roberti asked why the Chinese opposed direct elections to LegCo. You said this was partly because the Chinese distrusted direct elections and partly because they did not want us to preempt provisions in the Basic Law

which would clarify the JD reference to constitution "by

elections".

11. In answer to a question, you denied that it had been

our policy, following 4 June 1989, to take advantage of

China's weak position to push for greater democratisation

and government accountability than we had achieved in the

JD. The effect of Tiananmen Square had been to make more

difficult existing negotiations across the board.

MUKAMB/4