Applying Sustainability Tools: Exploring by Civic Exchange

Applying Sustainability Tools: Exploring Constitutional Development (2003 -2004)

Christine Loh January 2005

Table of Contents

Background

Mainland China and Hong Kong – Societies in Transition

II.

Societies in Transition – Some Aspects

Trust in crisis

Knowledge and knowledge societies

Modernization

III. Sustainability Tools – Core Competence Skills in Knowledge Management

Knowledge management

Pure of communication

Positive and negative emotions

Rebuilding trust in civil-society-government relations – importance of groups

IV. Application of Sustainability Tools in Constitutional Development (2003-2004) 8

Concluding Observations

Civic Exchange

Applying Sustainability Tools: Exploring Constitutional Development (2003 -2004)

BACKGROUND Civic Exchange continues to explore, develop and apply what it has branded as Sustainability Tools in its policy research work for effective government-civil sector relations. In its previous publications on the subject, ‘tools’ such as how to bridge the communication gap, sending clear messages, active listening, speaking and presentation, organizing successful meetings, group facilitation, mediation, conflict transformation, dealing with assumptions, and understanding thinking preferences have been discussed.1 This paper is the third in the series. While these tools are useful within any organization, they are particularly important for dealing with social tensions at times of transitions. Sustainability Tools are effective when used in policy and political gatherings of small and large groups to deal with complexity and diversity. These skills are widely researched and documented mainly from a corporate perspective as companies are constantly looking for ways to build internal teams, think creatively, create effective management and communicate with stakeholders in order to improve performance and profitability. The same skills are much less researched and applied in the policy-making and political sphere. Civic Exchange’s longstanding interest has been to adapt and apply these skills to create effective political dialogue. Indeed, Civic Exchange believes these tools are core competence skills to manage complexity that are often at their most challenging in political matters. Public officials, politicians, organization leaders in business and the community sectors can all benefit by understanding how to use these tools to enhance their interactions with each other internally, in the public realm, as well as with their counterparts nationally and internationally as the world is brought together rapidly through the process of globalization.

I: Mainland China and Hong Kong - Societies in Transition The ‘end of history’ thesis, in which the world is seen to move toward becoming a one-world society resembling a typical Western society has become unconvincing.2 A key part of that vision is the inevitable creation of an integrated global capitalist market economy that would bring wealth and prosperity to all. A popular conception of globalization envisioned the workings of the economy, markets and capital to replace the social and political spheres. In light of the failures of various economic shock treatments applied to developing countries and serious corporate wrongdoings in recent years, the previous enthusiasm for an economic order anchored by global capital and seemingly ever-rising stock prices has greatly diminished. A clear trend to reconsider the market-society vision started in November 1999, with surprisingly large public demonstrations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in Seattle, USA. This shocked governments but energized the civil sector movements. Since then, other large public protests have followed at time of meetings of such organizations as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the World Economic Forum. These organizations symbolize all that is wrong with the market-society vision of globalization.3

Christine Loh, An Introduction to Sustainability Tools: Using Effective public dialogue to improve governmentcivil sector relations (March 2002) www.civic-exchange.org and Promoting Sustainability Tools: Connecting Thinking and Dialogue Skills (January 2003) www.civic-exchange.org. See also Katherine Forestier, Tooling up to address society’s problems, South China Morning Post, 21 March 2003. 2 Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man, Penguin Edition, London, 1992. 3 Other sizable public demonstrations took place in Washington DC, London, Prague, Melbourne and Cancun post-Seattle.

Civic Exchange

Applying Sustainability Tools: Exploring Constitutional Development (2003 -2004)

There is an on-going debate in Asia about how Asian societies should develop. In China’s case, rapid economic deregulation and growth since the 1980s have resulted in widespread corruption through exploitation of either poorly regulated or unregulated markets, widening disparities of wealth and increasing social turmoil. The reforms have also resulted in largescale urbanization with huge numbers of people from rural areas moving to cities in search of work. The migration is turning the once mainly rural China into a fast urbanizing society within one generation.4 A growing number of public demonstrations in China in recent years is causing a rethink of the sources of discontent in a changing society as well as the strategies for coping with it.5 To resolve these and other challenges facing China, its leaders need to find ways to ensure social and economic justice for its citizens. In the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, a similar transition is taking place. While Hong Kong is a wealthy society, it is also experiencing a difficult socio-economic transition. At the same time, Hong Kong also has to deal with a political transition from British to Chinese rule. While the political transition took place in 1997, Hong Kong is still in the process of realigning its socio-political-economic systems from a colonial model to creating a new one that operates a separate system within China under the national policy of “one country, two systems”. Hong Kong’s constitution, the Basic Law, provides for political reform from 1997 to 2008 and beyond. With opportunities to change some aspects of the electoral system for the election of its head of government (the position of Chief Executive) in 2007 and the legislature in 2008, the people of Hong Kong are engaged in an on-going and frequently heated debate about constitutional development. As still further reforms are expected in 2011 and 2012, it is certain that public participation in discussion on reform issues will remain high on the political agenda for the foreseeable future. While the Basic Law is clear that the “ultimate goal” is “universal suffrage”, the reality is that Hong Kong will not achieve universal suffrage until the Central People’s Government in Beijing is comfortable for a corner of the country to embark on directly electing its political leaders. Within China (including Hong Kong), there is an urgent need to resolve many challenges that require specific skills to enable the many groups of stakeholders to discuss and agree upon solutions among themselves and with each other. In addition, Hong Kong has a need to find ways to communicate effectively with Beijing to agree on a timetable and the substance for further political reform. Hong Kong also needs to discuss with neighbouring Guangdong Province on a range of cross-boundary issues that have direct socio-economic impact for both sides. These issues include infrastructure development, environmental protection, and cross-border crime, to name just a few. While Civic Exchange’s work on public policy research includes providing perspectives and policy recommendations to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (HKSARG), the Central People’s Government and the Guangdong authorities, Civic Exchange feels strongly that it would be extremely helpful to all the stakeholders, including the public, to use Sustainability Tools to enable more effective dialogue among the stakeholders in small and large gatherings. This could turn potential conflicts into opportunities, finding innovative perspectives and solutions to impasse.

Wang Hui, China’s New Order: Society, Politics, and Economy in Transition, Edited by Theodore Huter, Harvard University Press, 2003. 5 Murray Scott Tanner, China Rethinking Unrest, The Washington Quarterly, Summer 2004, p.137-156.

Civic Exchange

Applying Sustainability Tools: Exploring Constitutional Development (2003 -2004)

II: Societies in transition – Some Aspects In considering the use of Sustainability Tools to enable more effective dialogue among small and large groups at times of rapid transformation, there are three particular aspects that affect the overall context that are useful to highlight. Trust in crisis Around the world, trust has become an issue in politics and political affairs. People appear to have become disillusioned with traditional political institutions, politicians and the political process. Politicians create the conditions for economic and social development. They are in the position to vary conditions that favour certain interests as well as decide on public spending programmes that affect many people. Trust appears to be in crisis because people are concerned that politicians and the political process have become corrupted by being too closely aligned with money politics. Trust is critical for the smooth running of politics, yet politics is more often than not deeply contested. Even in a one-party state like China, there is in fact much intra-party rivalry on issues such as when and how economic and political reforms should take place. In Hong Kong’s case, while there is a baseline of trust within society, the HKSARG is suffering from a credibility crisis that has led to symptoms of a dysfunctional government. 6 As such, the vertical relationships do not appear to be working, leading to the people distrusting those in authority; and as a consequence, the government has become ineffectual. The argument over the pace and direction of political reform in the HKSAR is also influenced by how the public perceives the government’s relationship with ‘Big Business’. A dominant concern at the time of writing this report is the rise in public allegations of ‘collusion’ in recent years. The C H Tung Administration (1997-2002 and 2002-2007) is being accused of favouring business interests over the public interest.7 Knowledge and knowledge societies It is generally recognized that a society’s development is tied to the level of knowledge of its people and how effectively knowledge is applied. Hong Kong’s Chief Executive, C H Tung, has repeatedly emphasized how important it is for Hong Kong to be a ‘knowledge society’. Government officials usually focus on things like school curriculum, degree certificates, books, and databases as embodiments of knowledge. There is also a widespread belief that knowledge has to do solely with the intellect and rationality. In conjunction with ‘knowledge’, the term ‘intellectual capital’ is frequently used to describe what people know in an organization or a community of people.8 Intellectual capital is seen 6

Lau Siu-kai (editor), The First Tung Chee-hwa Administration: The First Five Years of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Chinese University Press, Hong Kong, 2002; Christine Loh and Richard Cullen, Politics without Democracy: A Study of the New Principle Officials Accountability System in Hong Kong, San Diego International Law Journal, University of San Diego, School of Law, Vol 4, 2003, p. 123-188; Christine Loh and Richard Cullen, Political Reform in Hong Kong: the Principal Officials Accountability System. The first year (20022003), Journal of Contemporary China, Vol 14 No. 42 February 2002, p. 153-176. 7 Christine Loh, Government-Business Relations and Hong Kong’s Functional Constituencies, Civic Exchange, August 2004; Leo F Goodstadt, Uneasy Partners: The Conflict Between Public Interest and Private Profit in Hong Kong, Hong Kong University Press, 2005. 8 Thomas A Stewart, The Wealth of Knowledge: Intellectual Capital and the Twenty-first Century Organization, Currency Books, New York, 2001; Paul R Gamble and John Blackwell, Knowledge Management: A State of the Art Guide, Kogan Page, USA and UK, 2001. These and many other publications on intellectual capital, knowledge and knowledge management focus primarily on companies and what the corporate world can do to improve performance and profitability.

Civic Exchange

Applying Sustainability Tools: Exploring Constitutional Development (2003 -2004)

to be made up of what is in people’s heads and in print – including what is recorded and explained in databases, written materials, manuals, formulae, process, procedures, policies etc. A less well accepted term is ‘emotional capital’, which relates to what people feel. 9 Nevertheless, the concept of emotional capital has gained currency, as indeed has other forms of ‘capital’ such as spiritual, social, and network capital.10 These represent the growing recognition that the term ‘human capital’ needs to reflect the complexity of the human condition and, therefore, in assessing human capabilities and capacities, a broad view needs to be taken. Knowledge can only reside in people because what a human being knows is not only about facts, figures and the intellect’s assessment of them but also about the person’s perceptions, emotions and feelings gathered during a lifetime of experiences. Knowledge is in fact a fusion of thoughts and feelings. A society is a collective of people. Their emotions to how they see government decisions are as relevant as putting facts and figures in front of them for justification. Perceptions and emotions may be positive or negative. The positive can be harnessed and the negative need to be addressed if the decision-making process is to be improved. Modernization The difficult move from tradition to modernity, from the certainties of a settled life to complexity and uncertainty that comes with industrialisation and from there to the postindustrial society where services dominate has made societies in transition potentially more fractious. Modernity has much to do with generating sufficient economic surpluses so that everyone can benefit from universal education and enjoyment of leisure activities. Modernity also focuses on the individual and individualism, which has an impact on the collective and collective judgment. This presents both a threat and an opportunity. There may be a perception, especially among the power elites, such as in Hong Kong today, that there is less social cohesion because they see themselves facing objection from other social classes, who are challenging the status quo.11 At the same time, the public questions whether their political and economic leaders share what they believe to be the “core values” of a society.12 There are on-going debates about whether the core values of the C H Tung Administration are the same as those of Hong Kong people.13

III: Sustainability Tools – Core Competence Skills in Knowledge Management Knowledge management Civic Exchange’s Sustainability Tools are in essence a set of knowledge management techniques aimed at developing a set of core competence skills that can be used by stakeholders when gathering in groups to achieve better mutual understanding and lay the foundation for consensus-building, conflict resolution, and problem-solving in public affairs. It may be said that Sustainability Tools help the managing of the ‘Next Society’.14 It may also 9

Kevin Thomson, Emotion Capital: Maximizing the Intangible Assets at the Heart of Band and Business Success, Capstone, UK, 2000. This and other publications on emotion capital are focused on companies. 10 Robert D Putnan, Bowling Alone : The Collapse and Revivial of American Community, Simon & Schuster, 2000. 11 C H Tung, Chief Executive Policy Address 2005, Working Together for Economic Development and Social Harmony, 12 January 2005, paragraphs 17-25. 12 See Core Values Citizen Hearing : Independent Panel Report www.synergynet.org.hk 13 Footnote 11 paragraph 24. 14 Peter F Drucker, Managing the Next Society, Butterworth Heinmann, UK, 2002.

Civic Exchange

Applying Sustainability Tools: Exploring Constitutional Development (2003 -2004)

be useful to consider the notion of the ‘tipping point’ where major changes in society appear to happen suddenly and unexpectedly, but in fact the signs of change are long apparent to those who care to take note of them through seeing and hearing those who are ‘natural pollinators’ of ideas.15 The old style communication methods of those in authority telling the people what the political decision-makers want to say has become untenable in many societies in transition, including in Hong Kong. Beyond using the mass media to inform the general public of government decisions, an important way to work with stakeholders is through groups because it is through groups that those in authority have a chance to work with the idea pollinators in society, which include public officials. Thus, the ability to work with groups of various sizes has become a core competence in the management of politics. An important aspect of dealing with complex issues in times of rapid transformation is that they involve many perspectives and diverse views among the stakeholders. In other words, coping with the ‘hearts and minds’ of various groups in terms of how they think and feel become an inevitable part of the challenge. The types of issues in the foregoing section are all highly complex and intricate, involving many areas of knowledge and experience, as well as conflicting perspectives, assumptions, hopes and fears. More than ever, those in power need to find new ways to connect with the people. When there is opposition to government policies and decisions, there needs to be effective ways for genuine dialogue to take place and for the output of the dialogue sessions to be reflected upon by all the stakeholders. In any event, the public itself, through non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and citizens’ action groups, are using new skills to operate more effectively by building coherent public messages and using the media. As a result, governments face serious competition on ideas, challenges on how they govern, and demand for greater accountability. To rebuild trust with the public, taking into account both that knowledge does not rest with the few anymore and that modern societies need new governance systems to connect the government with the people, new tools are needed to redesign consultative and public participatory processes. Purpose of communication Organizations, including government bodies, are used to amassing information, data and research to help decision-makers in their decision-making process. Governments and their units are frequently engaged in consulting groups and the public directly on a variety of issues in small, medium-sized and large groups. For example, in Mainland China, government units, party schools and think tanks have heated internal debates. People’s congresses and various consultative bodies gather to debate all kinds of issues, and officials have to outreach more and more to non-government or semi-public bodies to keep their fingers on the national pulse. 16 In Hong Kong, the government has many advisory and consultative bodies to interact with the business as well as NGO sectors. 17 Town-hall meetings have also been held. As these are essentially communication efforts, they serve multiple purposes ranging from finding things out, relating to others, providing information, as well as persuading and influencing others. In Hong Kong’s case, the extensive consultative network is in need of reform to ensure that it is structured and operated to suit today’s society that demands genuine participation in public affairs rather than be used as tools by the government to give a semblance of support to its legitimacy and policies. 15

Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, Little Brown, USA, 2002. This may be said of the people’s movement in 1989 in China that culminated in the crackdown on 4 June at Tiananmen Square in China, the large demonstrations at Seattle against the WTO’s priorities and policies in 1999, and the 1 July 2003 march in Hong Kong against the HKSARG’s national security legislation. 16 Civic Exchange’s Directory of Environmental NGOs in Guangdong, www.guangdong-ngodirectory.org provides a short introduction of civil society in Mainland China. 17 The HKSARG has over 400 consultative, executive and advisory bodies of various kinds.

Civic Exchange

Applying Sustainability Tools: Exploring Constitutional Development (2003 -2004)

Figure 1: Multipurpose Nature of Communication18

Positive and negative emotions What is often missing is the recognition that in a communication transaction, while the people involved act and react on the basis of the present situation, the current context is influenced by their respective histories, past experiences, cultural beliefs, emotions, future expectations, and a host of related issues. Stereotyping is a common phenomenon within groups.19 An important implication of this is that actions and reactions in communication are determined not only by what is said, but also by the way each person interprets what is said. Thus, the same message may be interpreted differently by two listeners. Furthermore, communication involves not only the content but also the relationship dimension between those present, and also how the communication is structured. The structure can range from a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;commandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; format, where there is a clear leader, to ones where there is total equality. In the case of communication between the government and the public, and where there is a lack of trust, there are likely to be negative emotions involved.

18 Adapted from Joseph A Devito, Human Communication: A Basic Course, 9th Edition, Pearson Education Inc, 2003, p.12. 19 Stereotyping is the tendency to develop and maintain fixed perceptions of groups of people and to use those perceptions to evaluate individual members of these groups, ignoring their unique individual characteristics.

Civic Exchange

Applying Sustainability Tools: Exploring Constitutional Development (2003 -2004)

Table 1: Examples of Positive and Negative Emotions20

Positive Emotions

Negative Emotions

• Trust – confidence in integrity, value and reliability.

• Fear – feeling of distress or apprehension caused by sense of risk or danger.

• Pride – feeling of honour and respect.

• Anger – feeling of antagonism or annoyance as a result of real or perceived grievance.

• Determination - unwavering sense of purpose.

• Hostility – sense of oppositional behaviour.

• Commitment – determination or involvement with a cause or particular action.

• Apathy – lack of interest and motivation.

• Enthusiasm – passion for an idea, values or course of action.

• Stress – sense of mental, physical or emotional pressure.

• Love – affection and attachment to want to give, protect and energize.

• Hatred – feeling of intense dislike.

Rebuilding trust in civil society-government relations – importance of groups Establishing trust is not an easy matter. As societies are changing rapidly, trust is bound to be affected. In relation to politics, individuals are much less willing to accept authority without question in today’s world. Sustainability Tools can help re-establish trust between civil society and government through using various types of gatherings for genuine dialogue to take place. The key principle behind Sustainability Tools is the belief in humanity. Civic Exchange believes that with goodwill and respect for others, it is possible for people with different experiences to have deep dialogue with each other to improve mutual understanding and, having achieved that, to be able to truly explore solutions. The concept of public dialogue has already been explored in earlier publications.21 The emphasis here is on what happens when people gather in groups, and consequently the importance of using groups to improve dialogue in public affairs. When people gather and explore issues together, there is the potential for a high cognitive and cooperative experience, provided certain conditions are met, as they are putting together their collective intelligences. The key conditions are diversity and independence of the participants. Diversity and independence are critical because the best collective insight, feedback or decisions are the products of disagreement and contest, not forced compromise. Diversity makes a group more able to explore alternatives and therefore capable of identifying innovative perspectives and solutions.22 To ensure independence, it would be 20

Table 1 is adapted from Kevin Thomson, Emotional Capital, footnote 9, p. 23-24. See references in Footnote 1. 22 James Surowiecki, The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many are Smarter Than the Few, Little Brown, UK, 2004, p. xvii-xx, 29-31. 21

Civic Exchange

Applying Sustainability Tools: Exploring Constitutional Development (2003 -2004)

useless for the organizers to ‘pack’ a gathering with people they know would agree with them. It would be worse if they engineer their supporters to be there to give a semblance of support because in the longer-term, they might become even more disconnected with society and may be unpleasantly surprised by the ‘tipping point’ phenomenon. It is therefore vital to hear and take on board a diversity of views and be able to address them appropriately and in good faith. It is through the dialogue process of testing each other’s assumptions, views, data and positions that there can be collective learning. Government consultation processes fail when they are designed more for ‘window dressing’ and propaganda dissemination than truly to allow for real dialogue and innovation to take place. The public usually sees through window dressing processes and they only go towards further entrenching distrust between those in authority and the people.

IV: Application of Sustainability Tools in Constitutional Development (2003-2004) Civic Exchange has integrated the use of Sustainability Tools in its public policy research work through using small and large stakeholder gatherings to explore various issues.23 In particular, several gatherings were designed and organized in 2003-2004 that related specifically to governance and constitutional development. These have provided valuable insight as to what can be learnt from such gatherings and how they can be organized to derive good public dialogue. At the conference entitled Hong Kong’s Past, Hong Kong’s Future: More than an economic city” held on 15 September 2003, it was the first time in the city’s experience that a one-day event was organized with facilitated breakout sessions among the 350 participants from diverse backgrounds to explore issues relating to how Hong Kong is perceived externally and within itself. The agenda consisted of invited guests making presentations to the plenary to stimulate and provoke thinking followed by the breakout sessions and then for each group to share their reflections with the plenary. All plenary sessions were tri-lingual (Cantonese, Putonghua and English) with the assistance of simultaneous translations. Each breakout group was made up of diverse people selected from the register of participants on a random basis in order to ensure diversity during the discussion. The groups were asked to select what they could agree upon to present at the plenary, which resulted in 69 sets of reflections. The groups’ dialogue sessions were designed in such ways that people were able to express themselves comfortably and freely without the worry that they would be identified specifically for what they said. While the oral presentations were short due to time constraint, each group also provided their deliberations in writing, so the information formed a substantial part of the event’s outcome report. The event’s extensive breakout sessions’ reports could have been used by the HKSARG to improve its understanding of how such a large and diverse group of the public saw things at the time.24 The reports should have also provided valuable insight to the Central People’s Government to understand Hong Kong people better. Other institutions whether business or community could also use the results to enhance their understanding of Hong Kong society.

These have covered competition policy, telecommunications, public transport, electricity, corporate governance, community clean-up post-SARS outbreak, and tri-partite partnerships between the government, business and NGOs. In 2003, Civic Exchange also hosted workshops to train meeting facilitators as a part of its democracy enhancement project. 24 The report is available at www.civic-exchange.org/publications/2004/915FullReport.pdf

Civic Exchange

Applying Sustainability Tools: Exploring Constitutional Development (2003 -2004)

The 15 September 2003 conference was a seminal experience for Civic Exchange as it was the designer of the meeting processes. From that, it became possible to improve upon the basic format in future for very large events of over 350 people. The event also provided an opportunity for Hong Kong to become familiar with a participatory approach rather than the more traditional classroom approach where ‘experts’ are invited to give long speeches and where the audience are allotted a relatively short time to ask questions. At the conference Lessons To Learn: Governing Hong Kong – Strengthening Government Leadership and Enhancing Government-People Relations on 8 May 2004, a similar format was used which generated an equally rich set of dialogue output among the participants.25 The combination of two successful large events prompted a third event entitled Constitutional Development: 2007/2008 and Beyond on 6 November 2004. With a growing interest in Hong Kong to discuss political reform amidst Hong Kong people’s fractious relationship with the HKSARG, as could be seen from a series of large demonstrations against the authorities,26 there has also been a growing interest to communicate with the Central People’s Government on electoral issues.27 It appears that the Central People’s Government has also become more relaxed about interacting with Hong Kong. The 6 November 2004 event was important in that it was the first occasion where a number of Mainland officials and scholars came to collect views as well as share their perspectives with the participants. The Mainland participants exchanged views with some of the democracy activists and politicians in small breakout sessions. The dialogue output of this gathering also provided useful information for all the stakeholders.28

V: Concluding Observations Civic Exchange notes that dialogue processes and group dynamics is insufficiently understood by those in public life based on experience to date on using Sustainability Tools to promote more effective political dialogue. The more senior the personnel, the less they appear to think these are skills that they can learn to make them better leaders. Senior personnel from the government, business and NGO sectors see the skills as ones that can be easily sub-contracted to professional facilitators to perform. They accept the processes because the participants at the events appeared to enjoy them. Civic Exchange believes that having a basic understanding of dialogue skills are essential to helping politicians, political organizations, government departments, as well as NGOs know how to use small and large gatherings to build government-civil relations. While individuals in leadership positions do not have to have the skills of professional facilitators, it would be extremely helpful for them if they understood how facilitation and other Sustainability Tools can be integrated into their daily work for enhanced results. They can then ensure these can be applied appropriately. It is essential for leaders to have a basic grounding in these skills if they are to ensure that gatherings are appropriately designed and organized. With a basic understanding, they will have the ability to work with professionals to ensure optimal outcome. Without the knowledge, they will be unable to give professionals the direction necessary to design the right process to use the opportunities offered by working with groups. Much work remains to be done to show that the processes of engagement with stakeholders is itself a core competence in knowledge management and will have a significant impact both on the direction of how an issue develops and how it is perceived by the public. 25

Copy of the conference report is available online at www.civic-exchange.org/publications/2004/8mayconf.pdf. There were large public demonstrations on 1 July 2003, 1 January 2004 and 1 July 2004. 27 For a general background on recent political events relating to constitutional reform and intervention from the Central People’s Government, see HKSARG’s The Fourth Report of the Constitutional Development Task Force, December 2004, paragraphs 1.01-1.06, www.info.gov.hk/cab/cab-review 28 For a copy of the conference report, please visit www.civic-exchange.org/2004/publications/nov6-e.pdf. 26