TNAG-2450-FCO40-3567-Future-of-Hong-Kong-constitutional-development-1992 — Page 139

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SECRET

CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

*The community's main hope is that together we

should be successful in safeguarding our system

-

our way

of life for as far ahead as any of us can see or

envisage. One integral part of our system is the

participation of individual citizens in the conduct of

Hong Kong's affairs. The pace at which we broaden this

participation, and the bounds to which we can extend it,

lie at the heart of much public debate here and

elsewhere.

This discussion about democracy in Hong Kong

is one on which I wish to make my own position and

objectives clear. The sooner we can resolve the

important issues at stake in a way which satisfies our

own community, and I hope our friends in China and

the United Kingdom, the better. But I begin with the

assumption that unless the people of Hong Kong are

content with what is done for them and in their name, it

is unlikely to work as well as everyone, from here to

Peking and London and back again, would surely wish.

2.

In the debate about the pace of democratisation

there are two sides. First, there are those who demand

the maximum immediate progress, appealing to Hong Kong's

obvious sophistication and maturity, whether measured in

terms of economic achievement, educational standards, or

any other index of development. Second, we have those

who argue that every society must develop its democratic

* This runs on naturally from the previous section.