CONFIDENTIAL
TELEGRAM (CONT)
Caveat
Precedenga
DESKBY
در
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first, a paper handed over by the british side on 6
february 1990 as part of a sequence of papers dealing with aspects
of the electoral arrangements in the draft basic law
second, a chinese reply handed to the british ambassador
in peking on 8 february 1990
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third, a message from the secretary of state to the
chinese foreign minister, handed over on 12 february
the context of these exchanges is important. they were part of
a series of discussions between the british and chinese sidesfin
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late 1989 and early 1990 on the electoral aspects of the basic
law, aimed at reaching a mutually acceptable package of proposals
for the development of democracy in hong kong.
these exchanges dealt primarily with the question of the number
of directly elected seats. it did not prove possible to reach a
mutually acceptable arrangement on that issue. the british side
made clear at the time of publication of the basic law that they
wished to see a faster pace of democratisation. that remains the
position. for the british side, therefore, the question of the
arrangements for the 1995 legislative council elections remains
open.
on the specific question of the election committee, the chinese
side were adamant that its composition should be the one
specified in the draft basic law.
- the british side proposed a set of five principles as a
framework for creating an election committee, which we wanted to
see included in the basic law. these principles Were
-
in those circumstances, the british side were prepared in
principle to envisage arrangements on the lines proposed by the chinese side for an election committee, although we made clear
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that
STOCK No. C0370 YFB7
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