the British side had put forward revised proposals on the
Functional Constituencies and the Election Committee
conditional on reaching an acceptable overall agreement including through train criteria. He emphasised that the
British side were working for success in the talks, but that
for practical reasons there were only weeks rather than months
left in which to reach an agreement.
35. In the course of October, the British side put forward a
further revision of their proposals for the nine new Functional Constituencies, taking account of points made by the Chinese side. The details are in paragraph 69 below. They also put forward new proposals on the Election Committee, accepting the
Chinese position that the Committee's size should be 600, and confirming that Deputies to the National People's Congress
(NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative
Conference (CPPCC) would be free to stand for election to the
Election Committee.
36. In late October, the Chinese side proposed that the two sides record an interim understanding on five points: that
there would be no change in the nature or functions of the District Boards and Municipal Councils; that the voting age in all three tiers of elections, including the Legislative
Council, should be 18; that the restriction on NPC and CPPCC
serving in Hong Kong's representative bodies should be lifted
for all three tiers; that the voting method for the District
Boards and Municipal Councils should be single seat-single
vote; and that the two sides should record their differing view
on the question of abolishing appointed members in the District
Boards and Municipal Councils, and that it should be e for the
SAR Government to determine on its own the number of appointed
members in the District Boards and Municipal Councils. The
British side responded rapidly by developing these points into a draft Memorandum of Understanding. Given the urgency, this
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