TNAG-2455-FCO40-3576-Future-of-Hong-Kong-constitutional-development-presentation-1992 — Page 112

30 September 1992

Edward Llewellyn Esq Government House HONG KONG

CONFIDENTIAL

thats 017/77

BIEU ET

DRO

Constit

(Presentation)

Foreign & Commonwealth

Office

London SWIA 2AH

Telephone: 071-

Lille

19

BY FAX

Der Edward.

10.

HONG KONG: DRAFT ARTICLE FOR THE TIMES AND THE WASHINGTON POST

1.

Many thanks for sending me copies of your two draft articles with your letter of 30 September. I promised to get back to you quickly about these. We thought they were very good, and only have a few very minor nit-picks:

para 12

of the Times article opens up a dichotomy between the Foreign Secretary (following up the number of directly-elected seats,) and the Governor (exploring other options. Better to say (as the Washington Post article does) "we will continue to do so with vigour";

para 13 of the Times article, and para 16 of the Washington Post article use slightly different formulations for the composition of the Election Committee. Would it be worth standarising on: "to make up all or most of the

so-called "Election Committee" which under the Basic Law is charged...."?

- para 15 of the Times article: Hong Kong is not - alas- the final chapter in our colonial history. I think the Governor might get some puzzled letters from Gibraltarians and Falkland Islanders if he asserted the contrary.

para 16 of the Washington Post article: it might be slightly more palatable to the Chinese, when their Embassy in Washington send the article home, if the first sentence began: "We shall be discussing the electoral arrangements with the Chinese side, as we have undertaken to do, in the interests of maximising continuity. But....."

Ye ever Че

PF Ricketts

Peke

{t.times.art.peter

JEB

CONFIDENTIAL