CONFIDENTIAL
Mr Walden
HONG KONG
1.
No
2012
Lord Goronwy-Roberts has seen your minute of 23 January and has commented as follows:-
"The crux of Mr Wyatt's letter is his proposal on page 4 that we should formally renounce sovereignty. That would have to be done publicly and the impact on confidence in Hong Kong, among the Chinese as well as the British, could be catastrophic.
And the dismay in Peking would hardly be less. And how, on that basis, could we insist that the "many side conditions" should not include "a Chinese viceroy or government official in Hong Kong"?
Mr Wyatt does, of course, make plain that the idea of renunciation on terms should be gently pushed. To that extent, he is in line with our own thinking · that the time is near when we should begin raising the question of the future of Hong Kong. We should, and shall, do this, but I do not think we should mention "sovereignty". My reading of the situation is tht Peking well under- stands how best Hong Kong can benefit PRC and that is by the continuation of the present assumptions: ie that there is no doubt about sovereignty being Chinese but that they tolerate the present de facto position. Let us assume, but not declare, the same things. The gentle probe should be aimed at agreements extending the lease and incidentally as it were accepting the continuation of the present arrangement over the whole territory. We may well get what we need that way and make it possible for PRC to give it."
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26 January 1979
[GD✓
cc: Mr McLaren HKGD
PS PS/PUS
Mr Cortazzi
Mr Murray FED
whale
F A Doherty
APS/Lord Goronwy-Roberts
CONFIDENTIAL