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why "no hope"?
>
mature.
The
confidentiality and the Chinese will not like it. situation is complicated by the fact that the Governor may be losing up to six non-Government members of ExCo.
There is a shortage of reliable men and women of influence
to replace them. Politics is an unnatural activity in
Hong Kong (where only half those eligible have bothered to register) and the attractions of accepting the Governor's
nomination to either body, where the work is highly time-consuming and where, in Legco especially, one is being
asked to constitute an embryonic Government party against
an "Opposition" enjoying the moral superiority of direct elections, are limited. The political system will have to
An Opposition that has no hope of influencing Government (let alone constituting it) is bound to be irresponsible and destructive. If the Government is to get its business through LegCo it will need to build a "party"
there. This will inevitably change the nature of ExCo and
the way it works (the obverse of Martin Lee's not
unreasonable contention that were he a member of ExCo he
must be free to consult his party colleagues in LegCo if he is to carry them with him). We cannot write a blueprint,
but fairly soon after the September elections I predict
some constitutional challenges and pragmatic adaption to accommodate it. Journalists asked me often during my stay
whether we would consult the Chinese after the elections
about a more rapid extension of democracy. I said that we
would look into this, but many in Hong Kong recognise that
the present pace is about as much as it can manage.
The future
10.
The first six months of the year were difficult but
basically the Hong Kong Government and we were on the same side in trying to reach agreement on the airport which
dominated everything else. Since the MOU was initialled
the Chinese have been behaving in a notably positive
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