C
A
Mr Donald
2.
B
SECRET
Thank
you. And 201
12.
НКК.ovol ove!
RECEIVED HI REGISTRY NO. 51 02 JUN1981
DESK OFFICES
PA
REGISTRY
Talen
FUTURE OF HONG KONG
1.
J
12.6
You asked if there were anything novel in the Governor's remarks to Wang Kuang on the need to change British law vis-à-vis Hong Kong, and what form such a change would take (paragraph 9 of the record of discussions between the Governor, Sir E Youde and NCNA on 9 April).-
GS
Essentially, the Governor's remarks go no further than we had already concluded (see paragraph 6 of our paper on Options and Problems), ie that some change in the 1898 Order in Council is required if his judicial powers in the New Territories are not to lapse in 1997. This he phrased in terms of coinciding with 'what Deng has said' in order to make the message more palatable to the Chinese. It is novel in that we have not put it to the Chinese in this way before.
3.
We have consulted Mr Rushford on what kind of change is needed, and his opinion is attached. The options (his paragraph 6) are promising:
a) an amendment deleting reference to the period of
the lease, or
b) a political delcaration that the New Territories are fully part of Hong Kong, the future of which will be determined at the appropriate time, coupled with an Order in Council revoking the 1898 Order and reciting the terms of the delcaration.
It would clearly be necessary to rehearse any such move with the Chinese beforehand to avoid any suspicion that we were attempting to annex in perpetuity the New Territories. Even then, their reactions might be unhelpful, but see paragraph 11 of Mr Rushford's note.
4.
Mr Clift will mention these options to the Governor in Hong Kong when they discuss the contingency paper.
13 May 1981
1. Morrice
P Morrice
Hong Kong and General Department
сс
Mr McLaren, FED
Mr Rushford, Legal Advisers
SECRET