TNAG-2735-FCO40-3943-Hong-Kong-role-of-the-Legislative-Council-(LEGCO)-1993 — Page 24

DRAFT DEAR COLLEAGUE LETTER

1. I know that you take an interest in Hong Kong affairs. I therefore wanted to let you have straight away a copy of the

Governor's annual address to the Legislative Council in Hong

Kong, which he delivered today.

2. This speech, like last year's, is wide-ranging and

contains new initiatives in many fields. But I think you will

want to know in particular what Chris Patten has to say about relations with China over Hong Kong.

3.

We have now been in negotiation with China over electoral arrangements in Hong Kong since April. The debate is not about the pace of democracy in Hong Kong. That was

established in the Basic Law and could only be changed if the

Basic Law itself was changed. The argument turns on whether the agreed steps towards democracy will give the people of Hong Kong a real opportunity to choose and on whether those steps are credible or not. We have had two main objectives;

that election arrangements in Hong Kong should be fair,

open and acceptable to the people of Hong Kong;

that there should be objective criteria for the "through

train" so that those who wish to run for election to the

Legislative Council in 1995, as well as those who vote for them, know before they do so what the rules of the game will

be.

4. We have agreed with the Chinese side that the content of

the talks should be confidential. Chris Patten has been

careful not to breach that understanding. But he took the

It.drcolleag.PETER

JEB