24 March 1993
Dear Colleague
Hong Kong
You will have seen that Chris Patten has now published
his draft electoral legislation, and that this has produced
a further wave of criticism from China.
Given your
interest in Hong Kong, I thought that you would want to
know the background.
The tragic events in Tianamen Square had a profound
impact in Hong Kong. For the first time they created a strong demand that we should cater for the political as well as the economic aspirations of the people of Hong
Kong. In September 1991 the first direct elections were
held for 18 seats on the Legislative Council (LegCo). A
strong preponderance of those elected (albeit on a
relatively low turnout) were supporters of the United
Democrats led by Mr Martin Lee. They have argued for
introducing much greater democracy in advance of 1997.
After his arrival as Governor, Chris Patten had to
take this demand into account, together with opinion at
Westminster and the likely views of the Chinese Government.
He produced a carefully judged package, about which the
Chinese were informed in advance. This proposed, inter
alia, substantially expanding the electorate for the LegCo
functional constituencies to cover the entire working
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.