TNAG-2771-FCO40-3988-Coverage-of-Sino-British-talks-in-the-Hong-Kong-press-1993 — Page 22

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Wu Jianmin as saying in San Francisco that improvement in Sino-U S relations would be beneficial to the whole Asian region including

HK.

7.

Reports noted (20.11) Mr Hum said before the meeting that the British side wished to first reach understanding on the simpler issues concerning the 1994/95 three-level elections. His Chinese counterpart, Jiang Enzhu said if both sides could reach an understanding on the 1994/95 DB and municipal council elections, would facilitate the talks overall. Papers noted Jiang did not mention the LegCo elections.

it

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NCNA HK Branch Director Zhu Yucheng was quoted as saying (20.11) 'to deal with the easier issues first' meant resolving first the issues concerning the 1994 elections, then on the basis of this agreement to resolve the problems in relation to the 1995 elections. Zhu indicated both sides had different understanding on this concept and this would need to be resolved in the talks.

9.

Sing Pao, HK Today and Sing Tao Daily (20.11) said according to their understanding, the British side insisted that to ride the through train, Legco members would only have to swear allegiance to the SARG, pledge support to the BL and promise not to take part in activities to overturn the Chinese Government. The oath should not have retrospective effect. The SARPC should only have confirmation power but should not conduct any political vetting. HK Today quoted a source close to the Chinese side as saying the Chinese side would not reach consensus with the British side on the through train in this round and they would not accept the idea of just an oath-taking procedure for boarding the through train.

10. Papers noted (21.11) the 16th round ended without any sign of a breakthrough. The next round would be held in the following week. Wen Wei Po quoted a source close to the Chinese side as saying the Chinese side agreed to lower the voting age to 18 and adopt the 'single seat, single vote' system for the DB and municipal council elections, but insisted a proper proportion of appointed DB and municipal council seats should be retained. However, in order to speed up the talks, the Chinese side had proposed a flexible way to deal with the problem of the appointment system. The Oriental Daily, Sing Tao Daily and the HK Commercial Daily quoted a British source as saying the British side were very disappointed an agreement on the simpler issues could not be reached in the 16th round, noting the 'single seat, single vote'

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