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Foreign and Commonwealth Office London SW1A 2AH
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY NO.
17 JUN:976
FEC 020/3044H
Joe Millington Esq British Embassy WASHINGTON
Telephone 01-
ROAMER IN
R
51
1 8 JUN 1976
1 (18)
Your reference
Our reference
Date
17 June 1976
Dear Millington,
US CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO CHINA
1.
13
Many thanks for your letters 020/16 of 11 May and 11 June. You will also have seen Alan Donald's letter of 19 May to John Boyd reporting the promised American follow-up.
2. It is certainly interesting that the Chinese should have gone out of their way to make clear to Congressman Wolff that they were content with the status quo in Hong Kong. Shen's statement reflects the Chinese attitude publicly defined by the Chinese Permanent Representative to the United Nations in a letter to the Chairman of the Committee of 24 dated 8 March 1972, in which it was stated:-
"... With regard to the question of Hong Kong and Macao the Chinese Government has consistently held that they should be settled in an appropriate way when the time is ripe."
It also reflects what we regard as the fullest Chinese statement on the future of Hong Kong, that made a People's Daily editorial of 8 March 1963 in which the questions of Hong Kong and Macao were referred to in the following terms:-
"... With regard to the outstanding issues which are a legacy from the past we have always held that, when conditions are ripe, they should be settled possibly through negotiations and that, pending a settlement, the status quo should be maintained. Within this category are the questions of Hong Kong, Kowloon and Macao...
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