TNAG-2450-FCO40-3567-Future-of-Hong-Kong-constitutional-development-1992 — Page 17

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There are other ways of rooting democracy firmly in Hong Kong, as the Joint Declaration intended it to be, without cutting across the provisions of the Basic Law. The Governor proposes that the "Election Committee" which will be responsible for electing 10 of the 60 members of the 1995 LegCo should consist of the members of the District Boards. They will themselves all have been elected. He also proposes that the 9 new functional constituencies which will need to be created in 1995 should be based on a very broad franchise providing an electorate of 2.5 million people. As a result, by 1995 every level of administration up to and including LegCo will have been formed on the basis of broadly based, fair and open elections.

There are strong arguments for working within the terms of the Basic Law. But a great deal will hinge on the presentation of these proposals to three very different audiences: Hong Kong opinion; Westminster and the international media; and the

Chinese.

There is a risk that the Governor's proposals will end up being attacked by some of 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. Martin Lee and other liberals may well be critical of the separation of ExCo from LegCo. But they should see attractions in many of the electoral reforms. There are already encouraging signs that the liberals are now taking a more realistic view of the prospects for achieving more directly-elected seats. 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

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