CONFIDENTIAL
Mr Wilford
кабога Sir D Watson
Volunte
5/6 Може
PS Mr Boyle Minute MG
Private Secretary
576.
118
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN HONG KONG
1. Three options are now open to us. We could do nothing
to change the law of Hong Kong; we could do nothing for the
time being; or we could take immediate steps to change the law.
Our choice will be determined partly by whether we accept the
possibility of an execution in Hong Kong in any circumstances
at all, and partly by the extent to which Hong Kong's Executive
Council is prepared to take account of British interests.
2. If Ministers accept the ultimate possibility of capital
punishment in Hong Kong in exceptional cases, and are prepared
to defend this in Parliament, then the best policy would be to
leave things as they are. The Governor is aware of the new
political situation. He can properly take it into account in
considering a reprieve in each case as it arises. This would
be made easier for him if the members of Executive Council could
accept that, in the last resort, it is not in the interest of
Hong Kong to provoke a confrontation with Parliament.
3. The Governor has urged on them that whatever they, and
Chinese opinion in Hong Kong, may think about the death penalty,
this question has a unique importance for the British Parliament.
They find this hard to swallow, but they are realists. They
argue, and believe, that there is little point in their wasting
CONFIDENTIAL
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