TNAG-2707-FCO40-3913-Hong-Kong-political-parties-Cooperative-Resources-Centre-(CR-1993 — Page 4

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The following were the main points raised when Legislative Councillors Mr. Allen Lee, Mrs Selina Chow, Mrs Mirian Lau and Mr. Edward Ho called on the Governor on 18 March:

(a) Mr. Allen Lee asked the Governor where Hong Kong would go from here. The Governor said thac talks had been difficult, and recent

(b)

developments had been disappointing both to him and the community. It appeared that we would need to start discussions on the Bill in LegCo soon. He envisaged China would like to influence the LegCo discussion heavily. China would also claim that the Government had a control on LegCo and hence would bulldoze the Governor's political package through. Others would say however that LegCo would intend to make changes to the proposals. He understood LegCo might have difficulties in finding an agreement on some of the proposals, for example the nine new functional constituencies. It was also difficult to say what the way forward would be until we had an agreed position nearer

the summer. Some Chinese officials would see the knock-on effect and be mindful of not linking political issues with economic issues in Hong Kong. Other hardliners in Feking might not mind linking the two. He was pleased to see Director Lu Ping making the distinction at his press conference the previous day. As far as Hony Kong was concerned, the Governor said that he hoped to work hard to set the economic development projects in place.

Mr. Allen Lee asked about the position of the three official members of Legco if the Bill was introduced into LegCo. He wondered whether the officials would vote on amendments or stick with on the whole package. The Governor referred his reply to the Hon. Ronald Arculli's question some time before, in that he would not wish to distinguish between official members and other members in LegCo. However he also commented that if the Government were only able to get the particularly sensitive part of the Bill through LegCo on votes from the official members, the situation would be acutely difficult and we