TNAG-2781-FCO40-4000-Future-of-Hong-Kong-constitutional-development-Chinese-reac-1993 — Page 82

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Ta Kung Pao - editorial

CONFIDENTIAL

By allowing civil servants to join political parties, the civil service is bound to split up into various sectors, each pledging loyalty to their respective parties before the interests of the Government. When civil servants voted in the last Legco polls, they voted in their capacity as professionals or members of other sectors of the community. Since in some functional constituencies, civil servants make up more than half of the constituencies, there is no need to set up an additional functional seat for them. It is also open to dispute whether a civil servant who resigns in order to stand in the elections can still represent the civil service.

Tsui Tong in the

HK Commercial Daily

Ba Sang in Wen Wei Po

HK Affairs

Adviser David

Chu in Ta Kung

Pao

The British have been politicising the civil service stey by step. If the Chinese side is not careful, civil servants, in particular those who were given the right of abode in the UK, will form a political party after 1997 with a strong pro-British element.

Politicising the civil service is part of the Government's strategy to cause chaos and instability in HK, fully reflecting the reluctance on the part of the British to withdraw from HK.

By encouraging civil servants to take part in politics, the Government aims to cause divisions in the civil service.

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Chinese

representative

to the talks Jiang Enzhu

Chinese sources quoted by Sing Tao Daily and

The Standard

The Sino-British row on the civil service issue stems from the fundamental changes to the civil system proposed by the British-HK Government.

The British side's insistence on a civil service functional constituency has pushed the talks to a dead end and the talks

cannot go on if the British side insists on allowing civil servants to take part in politics.

DOUNIDEUTUN