I C Orr Esq APA
HONG KONG
CONFIDENTIAL
C
M
11872
Рубитий
Jy Zivili
14.2
das AW20/2
British Embassy YEKING
BOEKING
8 February 1980
Dee lan
SPECULATION ABOUT TEE FUTURE OF HONG KONG
Ian Porter, of the Australian Commission in Hong Kong called on 6 February during a brief visit to China. We spent most of the time discussing practical aspects of HK/China relations, in which the Australians appear very interested, and about which Porter was well informed.
2. Towards the end of the conversation, Porter asked for my views on Sir Jack Cater's New Year Speech. He was unable to remember precisely what the Acting Governor had said, but some reference had been made to the Chinese leadership's assurances to investors in Hong Kong to rest easy. He, Torter, as well as several Hong Kong newspapers, had taken this reference in context to be an echo by the British of growing private and press opinion that general assurances of this nature would not be sufficient to maintain confidence and dispel worries about the expiry of the New Territories Iease in 1997. Another section of the Hong Kong press had taken the opposite view, that Sir Jack's speech was intended to emphasise the significance and satisfactory nature of the Chinese assurances. Who was right?
3. I was able to say with all honesty that being on leave over the New Year I had missed the speech and could not comment without seeing Sir Jack Cater's remarks in their full context. I confirmed that the Governor had passed on Dene's assurances at Deng's specific request, and said that if public reference were made by Hong Kong and British officials to the.
/Chinese
CONFIDENTIAL