ZIDEN
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013
HKK 040/548/1
{Mr
Mr Male,
PS/PUS
1
HONG KONG: PLANNING PAPER
1.
X
Про каде.
on
10/3
80
dans
You discussed this with
Re Pus.
башка
I attach herewith the first draft of our Planning ap
Paper
on Hong Kong.
2.
We have not yet had Sir Murray MacLehose's two promised despatches on the long term future of Hong Kong and on its internal policies which the PUS wished to see side by side with our first thoughts. It is evident, from recent telegrams from Peking to Hong Kong containing comments on a draft of the former, that the two despatches are in the course of preparation but clearly they
will not arrive before the PUS leaves for his tour of Latin America.
The PUS might, however, care to read the attached and discuss it with the Under-Secretaries concerned and myself so that we can incorporate his comments in a second version. If so, I understand that he might be able to see us at 4.30 p.m. tomorrow, 13 February I suggest that Mr Male pass this submission to Mr Kerr for the PUS's box tonight, while retaining the second copy of the draft paper for more leisurely consideration.
•
3. The draft is roughly comparable in length to planning papers that I have seen but the Planning Staff have advised that it would need to be much shorter if it is to be submitted to the Secretary
of State. This will be perfectly possible, partly by tighter drafting and partly by the consignment of a good deal of the commentary on the present internal policies of the Hong Kong Government (containing much of the matter in paragraphs 18-42) to
an Annex. We should be able to reduce the second draft of the
main paper to about 30 paragraphs.
4. The draft Planning Paper has been seen by the Planning Staff, the Overseas Labour Adviser and the Economists Department. There is considerable agreement among us over most of the field but still some outstanding differences, particularly over the degree to which
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/the present