TNAG-2989-FCO40-3575-Future-of-Hong-Kong-constitutional-development-talks-betwee-1992 — Page 73

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CONSTITUENCIES. HE SAID THAT IN ORDER TO ABIDE BY THE PRINCIPLE OF PRESERVING THOSE THINGS WHICH PROVED FEASIBLE, THE BL DRAFTERS HAD INCORPORATED FUNCTIONAL CONSTITUENCY ELECTIONS INTO THE BASIC LAW. AT THE SUGGESTION OF THE BRITISH SIDE THIS HAD BEEN THAT INDIRECT ELECTIONS WOULD TAKE PLACE. THIS FORMED A COMMON UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE TWO SIDES AND NEITHER SIDE THOUGHT THIS QUESTION WOULD BECOME A POINT OF DISPUTE LATER ON. THE DRAFT BL WAS REVIEWED BY THE NPC IN NOVEMBER 1988 AND COMMENTS WERE SOLICITED FROM ALL THE PEOPLE. LORD WILSON, THEN GOVERNOR OF HONG KONG, HAD COME TO PEKING AND CONFIRMED THAT THIS SHOULD BE INDIRECT ELECTION. HOWEVER MR PATTEN HAD NOW SUGGESTED THAT ALL EMPLOYEES HAD A RIGHT TO CAST A SECOND VOTE. THIS WOULD BE A SOURCE OF DISCORD BETWEEN WORKING AND NON-WORKING PEOPLE AND WOULD RADICALLY ALTER THE NATURE OF

FUNCTIONAL CONSTITUENCY ELECTIONS.

'ON THE ELECTION COMMITTEE LI HOU SAID THAT BEFORE THE NPC RATIFIED THE BL, THE TWO SIDES HAD ALREADY CARRIED OUT A GREAT MANY CONSULTATIONS ON THE COMPOSITION OF THE ELECTORAL COMMITTEE. THE FIVE PRINCIPLES RAISED BY THE BRITISH SIDE COULD IN GREAT PART BE FOUND IN VARIOUS PROVISIONS OF THE BASIC LAW, FOR EXAMPLE THE ELECTION COMMITTEE SHOULD BE WIDELY REPRESENTATIVE, SHOULD BE CONSTITUTED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PRINCIPLES OF DEMOCRACY AND TRANSPARENCY AND SHOULD BE ENSHRINED IN AN ELECTORAL LAW. THE PRINCIPLE OF THE SECRET BALLOT WAS ALSO INCLUDED IN BL ANNEX I PARA 5. THE BRITISH SIDE HAD CLEARLY SHOWN THAT THERE HAD BEEN NO OBSTACLE TO COOPERATION BETWEEN THE TWO SIDES ON THIS QUESTION AND HAD THANKED THE CHINESE SIDE FOR ITS EFFORTS IN THIS QUESTION.

DOES THIS NOT SHOW THAT THE TWO SIDES HAD REACHED AN UNDERSTANDING AND COMMON GROUND AT AN EARLY STAGE ON THE QUESTION OF THE ELECTION COMMITTEE. THE REASON THAT THE COMPOSITION OF THE FIRST ELECTION COMMITTEE WAS NOT INCLUDED IN THE PROVISIONS OF THE BASIC LAW WAS

FOR THE VERY REASON THAT THE BRITISH SIDE HAD ALREADY AGREED TO SET UP THE 1995 ELECTION COMMITTEE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE RELEVANT PROVISIONS OF THE BASIC LAW. THIS PROBLEM WAS NO LONGER A PROBLEM.

eg

numbers IF THE 1995 LEGCO IS TO SURVIVE THE TRANSITION THEN THE BRITISH in Kagleg SIDE

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SIDE MUST ABIDE BY THE UNDERSTANDING REACHED BETWEEN THE TWO SIDES AND MAKE ITS PREPARATIONS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS IN THE

lack 7 BASIC LAW AND IN ITS ANNEX I. OTHER PRECISE DETAILS WERE TO BE si dhe

detail DISCUSSED BY THE TWO SIDES AT A LATER DATE BUT THERE WAS NO SUCH

'GREY AREA' FOR MAKING STEALTHY MOVES. THERE WAS NO JUSTIFICATION FOR MR PATTEN TO SAY THAT THE BL CONTAINED NO GUIDANCE AND THAT HE

THEREFORE HAD TO SUGGEST ANOTHER PACKAGE. HIS PACKAGE CASTS ASIDE ALL PREVIOUSLY REACHED UNDERSTANDING AND COMMON GROUND. THIS IS MR

PATTEN'S CHALLENGE TO THE BASIC LAW AND SINO-BRITISH COOPERATION.

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