TNAG-2445-FCO40-3560-Internal-political-situation-in-Hong-Kong-1992 — Page 29

From: Lord Wilson of Tillyorn GCMG

香港總督府

CONFIDENTIAL AND PERSONAL

p.a. Political Stration (19

GOVERNMENT HOUSE

HONG KONG

MAR 01/3

21 April 1992

Mr Jass

Miss Some 24/14

Mr Stre

zy

in

2414 23/10

attaches to

Jagua BS/M, Goodland

SJ Goles

Mr Burns ofr

Very interesting: I will draw a Are

Rickett Minute 21/4 for my note to the Secretary of State for

Hong Kong Political Situation:

The Budget

Alan Paul kindly sent me a copy of his letter to you about the Budget and how its handling by LegCo reflects the changing political scene here.

next week's

discussions

Alan Paul certainly gives a fair account of the general lines of the Budget issue and what it reveals about the changed relationship between the Administration and LegCo. I would only wish to add two points.

First, the desire of the Co-Operative Resources Centre (CRC) to enhance their own political reputation. By nature and background they are, or ought to be, the party of stability. But, as Alan Paul points out, they are desperately anxious to achieve what they see as being credibility in the eyes of the potential electorate. They are obsessed with the activities of the UDHK and how to counter or upstage them. Many of their political actions come not from a coherent political philosophy of their own, but as a reflection of what the UDHK either have done or might do. They want recognition. Thus, in the Budget discussions, it was not enough for Hamish Macleod to do a great deal to meet what they said had been their concerns in terms of commitments to an immediate effort to deal with housing concerns of the "sandwich class" and to address their tax concerns next vear. They wanted, but failed to get, recognition that any moves made by the Financial Secretary were in response to pressures from the CRC and nobody else. They were greatly upset that Hamish Macleod announced publicly the sort of moves he

Palett

22/0