TNAG-2724-FCO40-3930-Hong-Kong-political-parties-United-Democrats-of-Hong-Kong-(U-1993 — Page 22

JERMENT HOUSE HONG KONG.

MON 68 NOU 93 09:03

CONFIDENTIAL * *

PG.06

(a)

given our concessions on organisation based FCs and a 4-part EC, the 1993 package would condemn "liberals" to permanent minority status with no chance of defending our way of life never mind promoting democracy. As an example, he said such a LegCo would not in his view be able or inclined to oppose the Administration if it were post-1997 to amend the Bill of Rights Ordinance to weaken

its provisions.

(0) from his last session with the Governor he gained

the impression that the Governor was tempted by the prospect of a deal. whilst he appreciated the many factors the Governor would need to take into

account, he must be reminded of his pledge to

defend our rule of law and way of life. He felt

that whilst the Governor and his advisers might

claim that the 1993 package satisfied the requirement of "fair, open and acceptable to the people of Hong Kong" it was not acceptable to UDHK and liberal independents as it would in fact hand over control of Legco to the pro-China camp.

(£) even if we had a breakdown and were to introduce

the 1992 package it would be watered down. We had lost (as he said in his article in yesterday's Sunday Post) the window of opportunity by not introducing the Bill after its gazettal on 12

March. There would not be enough votes now to get the 1992 package through,

(9)

the only way for the Governor to win on his 1992 package was to call for a referendum or more simply to dissolve LegCo.

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