TNAG-2494-FCO40-3626-Future-of-Hong-Kong-constitutional-development-Chinese-reac-1992 — Page 125

K

CONFIDENTIAL

機密

世

Z

THE CPC SEEKS PSYCHOLOGICAL VICTORY

ISSUE

the

What

advantages

current

community and

is the CPG seeking to exploit in

phase of its campaign to demoralise the

weaken support for the constitutional package

presented in the Policy Address?

SHIFTING THE BATTLEGROUND

2.

The potential success of the CPG campaign can

easily be overestimated:

(a) Appeals

to emotion (e.g., anti-foreign

anti-colonial

or

sentiments) may be widely echoed

in public speeches and private conversations.

ExCo and LegCo members may feel obliged to

respond to the changing emotional climate.

(b) But the general public will not necessarily

feel obliged to convert emotion into active

opposition.

HKG's past performance, its

extensive social services and the public's

personal

experience of the PRC all operate to

keep the community operating rationally.

GF 323

CONFIDENTIAL #