TNAG-2727-FCO40-3933-Hong-Kong-political-parties-Association-for-Democracy-and-Pe-1993 — Page 110

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YRTELN0386: CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT: MR GOODLAD'S REPLY TO

ADPL: PRESS REPORTS

1. We note that the supplementaries for the Governor's statement to LegCo on 11 March contain a robust line (A5) clarifying what was meant by "subject to Britain's international obligations". Mr Goodlad agrees that it would be helpful if the Governor could deal with this misunderstanding at the source. But if the story continues to run, (or indeed if ADPL write again, as TUR suggests they intend to do) the Minister will consider writing again to Mr Fung to clarify the matter.

2.

You may wish to consider incorporating the following thoughts into A5:

The letters patent state that the Legislative Council has the power to enact Legislation, but Article XXVI 6 of the Royal Instructions oblige the Governor to disallow any Bill apparently inconsistent with the Treaty Obligations of the UK.

- In the context of the Discussions of the 1994/95 elections two relevant International Obligations of the United Kingdom would be the Joint Declaration and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

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