CO_1030_1459_HONG_KONG_CONSTITUTIONAL_DEVELOPMENT_1963_1965 — Page 243

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from the deliberations.

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There the matter rests and it is thought

unlikely that the Committee will make any further reference to the

petition. It is reported, however, that the U.N. Association is

preparing a further submission to the Committee.

Reasons for lack of major constitutional changes

15. Since the war the ostensible objections to any change have been:-

(a) Unsettled conditions in the Far East.

(b)

The difficulties of devising a suitable electoral

system for a colony in which much of the population

is not ordinarily resident and are not British subjects.

(c)

The Chinese, who constitute 99 of the population, have

shown practically no interest.

16.

The fundamental objection is that elected representation on the

Legislative Council, based on a franchise broad enough to have any

significance, is bound to import into Hong Kong the politics of the

two Chinas. This must almost certainly lead to a bitter internal

political struggle, with great dangers to the internal security of

the Colony and the prospect that a state of affairs might arise which

the C.P.G. could not tolerate or would be bound to regard as so

inimical to its interests as to call for the forcible take-over of the

Colony. There have been some significant indications that the C.P.G. does in fact see the matter in this light (see Appendix attached).

Current Policy

17. In April, 1962, the Governor was informed that the Secretary of

State approved the main recommendation in his latest survey of the constitutional position (see paragraph 13 above). This recommendation (in the Governor's own words) read as follows:-

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M

... in the future we should consider changes to the constitution

of Hong Kong (in so far as they affect the Executive and

Legislative Councils) only in relation to the necessity for the

improvement of the machinery of Government in terms of benefit

to the community as a whole, and that, since representative Government with eventual independence is not a possibility for Hong Kong, we should not indulge in the pretence of appearing to advance, by constitutional reforms, towards hfg97471 •"

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