UNCLASSIFIED
056376
MDHIAN 8841
INTERVENE INTO HK AFFAIRS AND TO TURN HK INTO A SEMI-INDEPENDENT POLITICAL ENTITY. THE PAPER FURTHER SAID THAT THE BRITISH SIDE'S PLEDGE THAT HK PEOPLE'S INTERESTS WOULD NOT BE SACRIFICED FOR A DEAL WITH CHINA WAS ONLY A MASK. THE REAL INTENTION WAS TO EXTEND COLONIAL INFLUENCE AFTER 1997 SO AS TO PRESERVE BRITISH INTERESTS.
PREPARATORY WORKING COMMITTEE
4.
WEN WEI PO REPORTED THAT CHINESE LEADERS WOULD GIVE A SERIES OF IMPORTANT SPEECHES AT THE FIRST MEETING OF THE PREPARATORY WORKING COMMITTEE TO BE HELD ON 16 17 JULY.
5.
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SOME PAPERS QUOTED FORMER BL DRAFTER AND WORKING COMMITTEE MEMBER WU JIANFAN AS SAYING THAT PROGRESS AT THE POLITICAL TALKS WOULD HAVE A DIRECT BEARING ON THE WORK OF THE PREPARATORY WORKING COMMITTEE. HE SAID THAT THERE WAS NO NEED TO SET UP A BODY SIMILAR TO THE FORMER BLCC TO SOLICIT VIEWS FROM THE HK PEOPLE BECAUSE HK AFFAIRS ADVISERS, CPPCC AND NPC MEMBERS WOULD REFLECT PUBLIC VIEWS. IN RESPONSE TO CRITICISMS THAT NO MEMBERS FROM THE DEMOCRATIC PARTIES WERE INVITED TO SIT ON THE WORKING COMMITTEE, WU SAID THAT IT WAS A WORKING BODY AND WAS NOT TASKED WITH THE COLLECTION OF PUBLIC VIEWS. WU MAINTAINED THAT THE WORKING COMMITTEE WAS NOT A SECOND POWER CENTRE, BUT ADMITTED THAT IT WOULD BE INFLUENTIAL TO COME EXTENT BECAUSE IT WAS HEADED BY QIAN QICHEN.
6. THE HK ECONOMIC TIMES COMMISSIONED A TELEPHONE POLL ON 28 - 30 JUNE ON THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE PREPARATORY WORKING COMMITTEE THERE WERE 787 RESPONDENTS. THE RESULTS WERE AS FOLLOWS:
A) RATINGS ON 12 HK MEMBERS ON THE WORKING COMMITTEE
CONFIDENCE
ABILITY
WELL-KNOWN TO PUBLIC
RITA FAN
68.2
70.3
95.3
LEUNG CHUN-YING
64 .4
67.6
45.2
LI KA-SHING
62.7
69.4
97.8
DAVID LI
61.
.1
65.2
58.3
CHUNG SZE-YUEN
57.4
61.9
81.2
SIMON LI
56.0
60.3
58.4
VINCENT LO
55.4
60.9
54.6
MARIA TAM
55.1
59.8
96.1
TSUI TSIN-TONG
53.9
58.4
40.2
TSANG YOK-SHING LO TAK-SHING
53.6
58.0
56.4
51.9
55.8
51.8
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2
UNCLASSIFIED
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