TNAG-2809-FCO40-4054-Sino-British-Joint-Liaison-Group-political-reform-package-pr-1993 — Page 3

1 April 1993

CONFIDENTIAL & PERSONAL

1. Mr Broken - ded

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you

sue this in fax,

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Prat Situation.

Office of the

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British Senior Representative

Sino-British Joint Liaison Group

St John's Building, 3rd Floor 33 Garden Road

Hong Kong

Telephone: (852) 868 2171/2416/2435 Facsimile: (852) 868 2431

PF Ricketts Esq Hong Kong Department FCO

HKC 081/4 「

1993

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Dear Peter,

See in fax

Pa

HONG KONG POLITICAL SITUATION

1. This letter attempts to assess the impact on Hong Kong': politics - and public opinion generally of the Sino British dispute over the Governor's political reform package; and to draw some tentative conclusions from the events of the six months since the Governor's address to LegCo on 7 October.

THE PUBLIC MOOD

2. There has been a shift of public mood in the past two months, which has been increasingly evident in the reaction to the decision to gazette the bill on 12 March. The catalyst for this shift was the awareness, from early February, that the two sides were seeking talks to resolve the impasse. It took only the slightest whiff of this to generate a mood of hope and euphoria the like of which has not been experienced here since the initialling of the airport MOU.

3.

It is worth recalling that despite, or perhaps because of, the sustained attacks by the Chinese on the political reform package, public support for it remained fairly constant for many months at around 30% - and supporters outnumbered opponents by a ratio of about 2:1. In recent weeks, however, two related strands of opinion have become dominant:

(a) an increasing number of people are entering the 'don't know' camp.

This probably reflects a growing sense of disillusionment with both parties to the dispute. It also reflects a strong desire to see an end to the row as soon as possible.

CONFIDENTIAL & PERSONAL