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 made with our full support answered this question. They provided for a modest development of democracy. This 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.
The balance sheet is clear. Our proposals, even after substantial revisions in an effort to meet Chinese concerns,
would produce electoral arrangements which 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. 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 functional constituencies,
despite the evidence that tiny franchises can lead to
corruption and vote-rigging. Learning nothing from
statememt.8/BRIEFS/NJH
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