Hong Kong, Chris Patten, on his arrival in mid-1992 was how to
reconcile the clear wish in the community for further movement
towards democracy, with the equally strong interest in legislative arrangements which were capable of enduring beyond
1997, thus providing an important element of continuity.
The Governor's proposals of October 1992 - which were made with our full support answered this question. They provided
W
ng
for a modest development of democracy which was fully compatible with the Joint Declaration, the Basic Law and any
relevant agreements between Britain and China.
The Governor's proposals were well received in Hong Kong.
Despite the hostile Chinese reaction, we persevered with
efforts to get talks underway and eventually agreed a basis
for talks, which opened in April 1993. The second part of this White Paper gives a full account of these talks. It
shows that we were prepared to make significant moves on two
important aspects of the Governor's proposals, the Functional
Constituencies and the Election Committee, provided that the
overall package met our essential requirements. But there was
a point beyond which we could not go if we were to achieve our
objective of fair and open elections. The third part of the White Paper analyses in more detail the specific proposals advanced by both sides against that objective.
ини
The balance sheet is clear. Our proposals, even after
substantial revisions in an effort to meet Chinese concerns,
would produce electoral arrangements that were fair, open and,
in our judgement, acceptable to the people of Hong Kong. The
Chinese side's proposals as they emerged in the talks would not. Stripped of the arcane detail, they proposed electoral arrangements which would have restricted choice and maximised
China's capacity to influence the election results. They proposed freezing all development in the 21 existing
statememt26.8/BRIEFS/NJH
3
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.