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approved by the FS and
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March 1993
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لله
"DEAR COLLEAGUE" LETTER FROM THE SECRETARY OF STATE
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 an understandably profound impact on opinion 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,
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