Mr Murray
CONFIDENTIAL
71A
구수
HKK 310/1
CALL BY HONG KONG SECRETARY FOR SECURITY
No Powa lai
1. I attach a draft summary of the main points that arose in your discussion with Mr Davies this morning.
2. I am pursuing separately your request to see a copy of the letter from the Private Secretary to his opposite number in the Home Office, setting out FCO comments on the proposed changes in the British nationality rules: though we have a copy of the draft of this letter and of comments on it, HKGD do not appear to have received a copy of the letter as it finally issued. We are obtaining a copy, and I shall mark it to you as soon as it arrives.
3. I am afraid that the meeting that Mr Davies and I had with Mr Smedley after leaving you was far from satisfactory: it is plain that before we can even begin to convince the Home Office of the importance of Hong Kong's case, we must first convince Nationality and Treaty Department. Mr Smedley argued strongly against the idea of retaining the description "Citizen of the UK and Colonies" for Hong Kong belongers, though his arguments were very unconvincing: they really boiled down to little more than saying that it would be untidy to keep the old title.
The next stage is to be a meeting of all FCO departments organised by Mr Figg: I promised Mr Davies that HKGD would do all we could to ensure that the FCO supported the Hong Kong case in whatever further comments we send to the Home Office.
21 August 1979
Draft to issue
in fair, with
copies to NT.D.
Defence Dept
FED.
172375
Col
ther
W. E. Chantill
W E Quantrill
Hong Kong and General Department
Qaytrill
We
Discursed para
3 Has
Last min}
os(m)
Discurs "if again
with the Cradock at 3.15 tomorrow.
I have slightly amended the draft, which
now be fair - tyred but not distributed to HK, (tha)
Dias
CONFIDENTIAL
zzks