Letter: What China agreed to for Hong Kong

Sir: Teresa Poole may well be right ('China sounds death-knell of democracy in Hong Kong', 1 September) that the Beijing regime's unanimous decision to terminate all Hong Kong's democratic bodies on its assumption of power in 1997 'was no surprise', but it is certainly not in line with the Sino-British agreements of 1984 and after.

The Basic Law, agreed with the Chinese government and often relied upon by it for its anti-democratic actions, states clearly in Article 8:

The ultimate aim is the election of all the members of the Legislative Council by universal election.

How does Beijing square its latest decision with such unambiguous wording? Surely the modest progress proposed by Hong Kong is a step towards that 'ultimate aim'?

Yours faithfully,

MICHAEL MEADOWCROFT

Leeds, West Yorkshire

1 September

The writer was leader of the Electoral Reform Society delegation to Hong Kong, 1991.