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(c) In the House of Commons on 13 July 1977, Mr Hooley asked whether the Secretary of State would discuss with the Chinese Foreign Minister "the anachronistic situation of Hong Kong and the possibility of resolving that absurd situation in a civilised way over the next two or three years". Mr Luard · replied that "the Chinese Government are very well aware of our views about the position of Hong Kong". "They have indicated no anxiety radially to change the existing situation in the immediate future but we shall continue to keep this question in mind".
6. Although not directly relevant, it would be useful to record here Huang Hua's letter of 8 March 1972 delivered to the UN on China's position regarding Hong Kong; also Sir C Crowe's letter of 14 December 1972 to the Secretary General of the UN reiterating the UK's views on Hong Kong's status.
7. Requests for information from members of the public have been dealt with at departmental level. Enquiries have originated from West Germany, Canada and the USA as well as the UK. In these cases, non-committal replies have been sent referring to the fact that much will have happened in the remaining twenty years of the lease, that relations with China have been good and that it is not yet possible to predict what circumstances will affect the expiry of the lease in 1997.
8. With these references as guidelines, it should be possible to construct a series of answers corresponding to a likely barrage of questions which members of the public may wish to raise. If you agree, therefore, I will seek to draft a list of basic questions and answers which will be useful to the department in the future.
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M J Upton
Hong Kong & General Dept
31 January 1978
CONFIDENTIAL