25
negotiations have been conducted entirely on a bi-lateral
basis. 17
In the event, there was close cooperation between Whitehall
and the Hong Kong governor and his Executive Council in the
conduct of the negotiations. The British side also took note of
the views expressed in the various representative bodies such as
the local District Boards, the Legislative Council (which from
1985 included a proportion of members
a proportion of members chosen from functional
groups in business, the professions, etc., and from 1991 a
proportion of directly elected members) and by other public
bodies, prominent business people, academics, journalists and so
on. More importantly, perhaps, the (British) Hong Kong government
publicly sought and obtained the endorsement by
by the local
population of the Joint Declaration without a word of protest
from the Chinese side. Nor have the Chinese raised any objection
whatsoever to the representatives of the existing government
formally occupying the Hong Kong seat at the GATT or the Asia
Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) and other international
organizations (provided of course that these do not require
sovereignty as a condition of membership). PRC representatives
sit alongside those of Hong Kong without ever questioning the way
in which they articulate the territory's interests or querying
their right to do so. Accordingly, the Chinese have proved to be
quite flexible on the issue as long as their sovereign claims are
not publicly challenged or their claims to speak on behalf of the
17 David Bonavia, Hong Kong 1997 (Hong Kong: South China Morning Post, 1985) pp.102-104.
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