1
Mr Cortazzi
PS/Lord Privy Seal
RESTRICTED
HKK243|
RECEIVES
(834)
RG. S1
37
15SK ON
ANDIX
PA
Floo
CALL ON THE LORD PRIVY SEAL BY THE CHINESE AMBASSADOR, 30 MAY
1. In view of the serious problem being created by the Vietnamese refugees and the continuing high rate of Legal and illegal immigration into Hong Kong from China, the Lord Privy Seal may wish to refer to our concern when Mr Ke Hua
calls this afternoon.
2. I submit a self-contained Speaking Note on which he could
draw.
It includes a defensive note on our attitude to
Taiwan in case the Ambassador asks about the appeal to the Taiwanese authorities, to which the BBC gave prominence this
morning.
We maintained a Consulate on Taiwan until 1972
but withdrew it when we reached agreement with the Chinese to
raise the level of our mission in Peking from that of Charge d'Affaires to full Embassy in 1972. At the time we publicly acknowledged the position of the Chinese Government that Taiwan is a province of China and have since been careful to take no actions which throw doubt on our recognition of the Government in Peking as the sole legal Government of China.
A humanitari
appeal to the authorities on Taiwan in no way affects this policy.
HKGD concur.
30 May 1979
CC:
PS- PS/PUS
Mr Murray
HK GD
News Dept SEAD UND
RESTRICTED
Lachend Sammel
R C Samuel
Far Eastern Dept