TNAG-2716-FCO40-3922-House-of-Commons-Select-Committee-on-Foreign-Affairs-enquiry-1993 — Page 125

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negotiation, and if all else fails then it would or could be settled by

arbitration or going to the court with the agreement of both sides.

49.

You implied earlier that the British Government was unhappy

with the initial draft of the Basic Law, and following representations the

Chinese took on board some of the concerns in the final draft, but did not

make all the adjustments or amendments that the British Government would

have liked. Could you spell out what these areas of dissatisfaction still

are?

(Mr Chamberlain) I think we would have like to have seen greater

progress towards democracy, for example. That was one of the areas. The

other was the nationality rule, the provisions for 20 per cent, the limit

of 20 per cent members of the Legislative Council of those who do not have

of abode

the right to vote in the Hong Kong SAR. This was another area.

50.

Mr Wareing

I want to clarify one point. Did you say that China does not

recognise the International Court of Justice?

(Mr Chamberlain) It does not accept the compulsory jurisdiction of

the International Court. Under the statute of the International Court

states have the option to declare in advance that they will accept the

International Court is competent to adjudicate on disputes that they may

China has not accepted this

have with other members of the United Nations.

provision.

51.

That has been put to China, has it?

(Mr Chamberlain) I am not sure that it has been put to them in the

context of these negotiations, but of course it has been made clear on many

occasions that the United Kingdom's policy is that as many states as

possible should accept the compulsory jurisdiction of the International

Court of Justice, and the People's Republic of China can be in no doubt

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