TNAG-2786-FCO40-4005-Hong-Kong-UK-Parliamentary-and-other-interest-in-constitutio-1993 — Page 75

June 1993

Mr Chan Hung

Joint Association of People's Organisations

for Promotion of Democracy

9/F Good Hope Building

618 Nathan Road

Kowloon

HONG KONG

afraid that I

that you were

I am

trying to prexit

út

a petition at Kai Tak or I would have

siccepted it tupe.

Thank you for your letter of 29 May about constitutional arrangements in Hong Kong. Fam sorry that in the bustle of Kai Tak your petition was overlooked. As you know, I did subsequently accept a petition from your organisation outside the Legislative Council building.

On your first question, the provisions of the International (ccer) Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as applied to Hong Kong

were incorporated into Hong Kong law by the Bill of Rights Ordinance. The United Kingdom and China agreed in the Joint Declaration that the provisions of the ICCPR as applied to Hong Kong will remain in force after 1997. Much work has been done to ensure that the laws of Hong Kong do not conflict with the provisions of the Bill of Rights (and by extension the provisions of the ICCPR as applied to Hong Kong), and the Letters Patent been amended to provide that no law of Hong Kong shall be made that restricts the rights and freedoms enjoyed in Hong Kong in a manner which is inconsistent with the ICCPR as applied to Hong Kong.

You will know that the UK made a reservation in respect of Hong Kong when ratifying the ICCPR, to the effect that Article 25 does not require/the establishment of an elected Executive or Legislative Council in Hong Kong. However, we and the Hong Kong Government have long been working to develop Hong Kong's system of representative government, including the introduction of direct elections to the Legislative Council on the basis of universal and equal suffrage. The functional constituency elections provide an additional channel to allow for the représentation of professional and economic sectors which are significant and of importance to the community.

In answer to your second question, the British and Hong Kong Governments have stated repeatedly that any arrangements made for the 1994/5 elections will have to be fair, open and acceptable to the people of Hong Kong. In the past six months or so, we have had the benefit of the views of Legislative Council Members as expressed in various debates in the

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