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China starts charm campaign in HK

HONG KONG: China has begun a charm campaign here to calm fears over the handover of the British colony to Chinese rule in 1997, calling for consultations on choosing a provisional legislature, Chinese sources said Thursday.

A senior Chinese official has also given reassurances to Hong Kong's non-Chinese minority community that members will have rights of abode in the territory after the handover on July 1, 1997, or could choose to become naturalised Chinese citizens.

Consultations will be held April 13-14 between members of the Preparatory Committee (PC), set up by Beijing to engineer the transfer of sovereignty, and invited Hong Kong personalities and organisations, the sources said.

Invitees will give their opinions on the formation of a 400-member selection committee which is responsible for choosing Hong Kong's chief executive and members of the provisional legislature. No invitations to join the consultations were given to leaders of Hong Kong's largest political party, the Democratic Party led by Martin Lee, because of their alleged anti-China stance.

The public campaign follows a week of controversy over an announcement by China that it will replace the current elected Hong Kong Legislative Council (Legco) with a provisional legislature in 1997.

Beijing has said it will disband Legco as its first order of business when it takes over the territory.

London reacted angrily with Foreign Office minister Lynda Chalker saying Monday in the House of Lords that "there is no justification for the establishment of a provisional legislature." Democratic Party Legislator Szeto Wah told AFP: "We will continue to oppose the provisional legislature."

China and Britain had signed a Joint Declaration in 1984 designed to create a "through-train" arrangement so that Hong Kong's government could continue past the handover.

But the agreement was scrapped after Governor Chris Patten carried out a series of democratic reforms before the territory's last elections in September 1995, including expanding the electorate, without Beijing's approval.

Zheng Guoxiong, deputy director at Xinhua, said the consultations showed "the PC policy of relying on the people of Hong Kong" to organise a smooth transition.-AFP