CONFIDENTIAL
Chinese Comments on Issues Related to the Sino-British Talks (September 2 - 13, 1993)
Introduction
The period under review saw Britain and China embroiled in yet another dispute. This time it is the question of whether civil servants should take part in politics. It started with HKMAO Director Lu Ping making public on September 5 a proposal raised by the British side at the Peking talks that a functional constituency should be created for the civil service. Other Chinese officials and the left-wing press rallied behind Mr Lu and lashed out at the British bid to "politicise" the civil service by encouraging civil servants to take part in politics, which came close on the heels of another bid to "localise" expatriate officers.
The Chinese side argued that the civil service functional seat proposal had violated the BL and the JD because it would entail fundamental changes to the civil service system. China warned that it would have to reconsider its pledge of preserving the existing civil service system if the British pressed ahead with its plans for change. It was pointed out that when civil servants could no longer remain politically neutral, they would suffer from split loyalty and their unity as well as efficiency would be undermined. The 1990 Civil Service Guidelines governing civil servants' participation in political activities was referred to by Mr Lu as 'a false start" made by the Government. It was also pointed out that the right of civil servants to vote was different from setting up a functional seat for them and allowing them to run for office in elections.
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Left-wing commentators linked the British proposal to its reluctance to withdraw from the territory and saw it as part of a bid to extend British influence in HK beyond 1997. There were obvious fears that the civil service would be dominated by a pro-British political party and that the future SAR Chief Executive would find it difficult to keep civil servants under control.
The dispute had cast shadows over the Peking talks, and Chinese sources had been quoted as saying that Peking was now prepared for the worst, although reports that the talks were about to collapse, which first appeared in The Daily Telegraph, had been denied by Chinese officials. An editorial in a left-wing paper even urged the PWC of the SARPC - the second stove set up by the Chinese Government to speed up its work in preparing HK for the changeover since prospects for reaching an agreement seemed more remote than ever.
On the Government's policy of allowing expatriate civil servants to switch to local terms, the Chinese side had remained restrained in its criticisms. Chinese officials merely repeated the need to consult them on what they saw was a major policy change.
Another case that soured Sino-British relations during this period was the Han Dongfang case. Governor Chris Patten's remark on the eve of the 11th round of talks that the China had breached international laws, which followed similar comments by the CS, had come under strong
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