§ Mr. FauldsTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his oral answer of 15 January,Official Report, columns 311–12, if he will list the provisions of the joint declaration and the Basic Law which envisage an elected legislative council for Hong Kong. [17527]
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§ Mr. HanleySentence 49 of the joint declaration and its annexes provides that
The legislature of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be constituted by elections".Article 68 of the Basic Law provides that:The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be constituted by election.The method for forming the Legislative Council shall be specified in the light of the actual situation in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and in accordance with the principle of gradual and orderly progress. The ultimate aim is the election of all the members of the Legislative Council by universal suffrage.The specific method for forming the Legislative Council and its procedures for voting on bills and motions are prescribed in Annex II: "Method for the Formation of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Its Voting Procedures.Annex II to the Basic Law describes the planned development in the composition of the HKSAR Legislative Council in its second and third terms, progressing to election of 30 seats by functional constituency and 30 by geographic constituency through direct elections in the third term. It does not specify the level of development after the third term, but does stipulate a mechanism to enable such further development to be made.
Copies of the joint declaration and the Basic Law have been placed in the Libraries of the House.
§ Mr. FauldsTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reasons the Chinese Government have given for regarding an elected legislative council for Hong Kong as contrary to the joint declaration and the Basic Law; what response the Government have made to the Chinese Government's reasons; and if he will place the communications between the two Governments on this subject in the Library. [17528]
§ Mr. HanleyThe Chinese Government have provided no convincing reasons for replacing the legislature elected openly and fairly in September 1995 by more than 1 million Hong Kong people with a body chosen by a hand-picked group of 400 people.
The Government gave a full account of Sino-British exchanges on representative government in Hong Kong in its White Paper, "Representative Government in Hong Kong", Cmd 2432 of February 1994.
The Government's position on the provisional legislature is set out in my right hon. and learned Friend the Foreign Secretary's statement of 20 December 1996 which has been placed in the Libraries of the House.