TNAG-2777-FCO40-3994-Parliamentary-relations-White-Paper-on-Representational-Gove-1993 — Page 101

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1

Although

independence

was

impossible, the British

authorities in the post war period continued to

recognise the desirability of greater democracy.

Proposals were made in public by Governor Young,

and the matter was reconsidered in the 1960s.

However, progress was inevitably inhibited by

known opposition to the creation of

China's

democratic institutions.

Neither

successive

governments nor the community were willing to

provoke China into challenging the status quo in

pursuit of her standing claim to sovereignty.

Nevertheless the Hong Kong Government did seek to

develop greater popular participation by

The Joint Declaration changed matters, fixing a

date for the end of British rule and appearing to

promise democratic institutions.

authorities had been deprived

arguments

for

resisting

The British

of the basic

pressures

for

constitutional reform.

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