World Notes HONG KONG

To have, or not to have, direct elections? That is the question Hong Kong will have to answer in the next few years as it prepares for a return to Chinese rule in 1997. Last week the government of the British territory sought to tap public opinion on the question by publishing a "green paper" that asks the colony's 5.5 million people to choose among some 30 electoral options. The findings of the survey will be submitted to Governor David Wilson in October. China has already made it clear that whatever Britain does must be compatible with the "basic law" now being drafted for the territory. Most observers guess that even if Hong Kong citizens choose direct elections, the British will probably defer to Peking and permit only a limited form of democracy.