TNAG-2712-FCO40-3918-Parliamentary-relations-draft-White-Paper-on-Representative--1993 — Page 52

wish to provoke China into challenging the status quo in pursuit of her standing claim to sovereignty over Hong Kong.

3.

The Hong Kong Government therefore sought to develop

greater popular participation in public affairs through a

network of consultation boards and committees, which provided advice on all areas of government activity. Elected representation at local level was enhanced in 1973 with the establishment of the Urban Council, as a statutory body with financial autonomy and a mix of elected and appointed members. In 1982 the District Boards were established as statutory

bodies on a territory-wide basis. The development of the local administrative structure was completed in 1986, with the

establishment of the Regional Council with functions in the New

Territories comparable to those of the Urban Council. Elections to a proportion of the seats on these bodies were on a geographical constituency basis, with all residents of

21 years or over who had lived in Hong Kong for 7 years having

the vote.

b) 1984-1991

4. Two issues in particular stimulated demand for a faster pace of democratisation. First, the Sino-British negotiations

over the future of Hong Kong which culminated in the Joint

Declaration signed in 1984. Second, the events of Tiananmen Square in 1989.

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would be

5. The Joint Declaration set the broad framework for Hong

Kong's democratic development. It laid down that the Legislature still fully appointed in 1984

"constituted by elections" in 1997. With that framework in

place, the Hong Kong Government issued a Green Paper as a basis

for public consultation on the next stage of development of representative government. The subsequent White Paper

statememt26.8/BRIEFS/NJH

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