TNAG-2450-FCO40-3567-Future-of-Hong-Kong-constitutional-development-1992 — Page 130

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opinion; Westminster and the international media; and the

Chinese.

There is a risk that the Governor's proposals will end up being attacked by the liberals in Hong Kong and by international opinion as not going far enough on democracy, and by the Chinese for going too far. The Governor's judgement is that he can build up broad support for this approach in Hong Kong. There are already encouraging signs that the liberals are now taking a more realistic view of what is achievable. At Westminster, there is bound to be some criticism that we should have gone further. It will be important to make our case quickly and effectively to Members and Peers who take an interest in Hong Kong as well as to the media. And many in Westminster will take their cue from reactions in Hong Kong. The Governor will sell his proposals vigorously in Hong Kong after his LegCo speech, and will do an extensive lobbying round during his visit here in November.

The Chinese will find a number of the proposals very hard to swallow. We are committed to consulting them on the arrangements for the 1995 elections (this was part of the deal whereby the Chinese agreed to include the through train concept in the Basic Law). We do not regard ourselves as committed to reaching agreement with them on all aspects (although the Chinese will claim that we are). It will almost certainly be impossible to agree a number of the proposals with the Chinese: the functional constituencies and election committee will be particularly difficult. We must at all costs avoid being sucked into an endless negotiation, and in practice we shall not be able to water down the proposals once the Governor has announced them. We should therefore tell the Chinese that we are prepared to discuss our ideas seriously with them, but that if proper arrangements are to be made for the 1995 elections (and the 1994 District Board elections

honkoncandev.Con.be

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