BRITAIN is to propose an electorate of 1.5 million for the nine new Legislative Council functional constituencies to be created for the 1995 polls when political reform talks resume in Beijing next week. The proposal, which has been endorsed by Governor Chris Patten, will depart for the first time from his democracy blueprint put forward during last October's policy address, which had envisaged giving every Hong Kong worker a second vote. This would have created an electorate of more than 2.5 million for the nine new seats, each of which would span a wide sector of industry. But the British side is expected to propose reverting to the traditional system of functional constituencies, formed on the basis of organisations and specific professions. This is an attempt to overcome Chinese objections that Mr Patten's previous proposals allegedly violated Sino-British understandings on the issue. Trade unions are expected to be proposed by Britain for some of the new seats. Although the unions already hold several of the existing 21 functional constituencies in Legco, Britain considers it important to have a fair balance between the number of councillors representing the interests of employers, and those representing employees. It is understood the proposed 1.5 million electorate is the largest that can be created, using organisations and specific professions as the basis for the nine seats. London is also expected to give ground over the Governor's October 1992 proposal that the Election Committee, which will elect 10 legislators in 1995, should be made up of only district board members. The British team, led by Ambassador to Beijing Sir Robin McLaren, is likely to signal that it will accept China's four sector model - comprising equal numbers of businessmen, professionals, grassroots representatives and politicians - for the Election Committee, providing all its members are democratically elected. But London will not give any ground on the three controversial demands that it put forward during the opening rounds of negotiations last May. These are for China to reiterate the commitment in the Basic Law allowing for full democracy in 2007, for Hong Kong to be consulted on the setting-up of the Preparatory Committee in 1996, and for the Election Committee to select the first post-1997 ChiefExecutive. Chinese chief negotiator Jiang Enzhu recently said Beijing would never make any concessions on these, as they were considered matters of national sovereignty, during the closed-door inaugural meeting of the mainland's new body on Hong Kong affairs, the Preliminary Working Committee for the Special Administrative Region. However, it is understood Britain believes the three demands must be maintained, particularly when it is making concessions on other fronts. The political reform talks resume in Beijing, with the ninth round of negotiations on August 16. No talks have been held in recent weeks as the British team has been on holiday. However British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd and Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen agreed to speed up the pace of the negotiations during their July meeting in Beijing, and subsequent rounds are expected to be held at weekly intervals.
