Legislative Council last week.
But despite our best efforts,
it has not been possible to reach agreement on this approach with the Chinese side.
Time has now run out for pursuing these points. We need to let the Legislative Council get on with their work. The Governor has therefore announced that he will publish draft
legislation on 10 December for introduction on 15 December.
This draft legislation covers proposals which are largely uncontroversial in Hong Kong. We had hoped that they were relatively straightforward for China too. The Governor is not, at this stage, proposing to legislate on the main issues which remain in dispute.
I have been particularly struck by two points in recent days. First, when I explained to the House of Commons this week what we were planning to do, every single Member of Parliament who spoke, from all Parties, supported our approach. Unanimity: a strong signal from Westminster.
Second, the community in Hong Kong have reacted in an impressively calm and self-confident way. Suggestions that what we are doing could undermine prosperity and stability seem out of touch with reality. The reality is that if elections are to be held, electoral laws need to be passed.
And that takes time.
But we are not walking away from the negotiating table. We have proposed a further round of talks on the remaining issues, where we have differences to resolve. We strongly hope that these will take place, and that we can reach agreement on the outstanding issues.
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The transfer of sovereignty was never going to be easy.
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