8.
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Wang had said that Deng's assurances to Lord Carrington were even firmer than those given to the Governor. They were assurances from a government leader to a government leader and followed discussion within the Chinese Government. The Governor had not signed the treaty about the lease. That had been signed by the Qing Government and the British Government. Deng's assurances had also been government to government.
9.
3.
The Governor repeated that Deng's assurances were not the difficulty at all. The Chinese position was quite clear. On the one hand Deng had said that, although there would be a change of status for Hong Kong sometime, there was no specific date. He had spoken of the possibility of change before, at or after 1997. This, coupled with the assurance to investors, was completely satisfactory. Taken alone it would be sufficient to deal with the problem. But it could not be taken alone. British law was the difficulty. It uid not coincide with the Chinese position on Hong Kong. It was not the treaty itself which mattered. It was the Order in Council which followed from it. Under this no powers of the Governor could go beyond 1997. He could not, for instance, issue land leases beyond that date. Speaking personally, and without knowing what the views of his government would be, he thought that it was essential to change British law so that it coincided with what Deng had said. This would have to be done in a way which accorded with the Chinese rosition on Hong Kong and also with their attitude towards the Taiwan problem. Ideally it should be done as inconspicuously as possible. But he doubted whether this was possible. Sir E Youde confirmed that he too thought this was the right approach.
10.
The Governor asked Wang what he thought. Wang said that for every lock there was a key. Sir E Youde remarked that in this case there were four keys: the Chinese Government, the British Government, confidence in Hong Kong and confidence of overseas investors.
11.
Wang said it was very useful to have such a clear explanation from the senior members of the Hong Kong Government. Much of what had been said was new to him. Li added that previously the matter had seemed very simple. From today's discussion it seemed however that it was very complicated. The Governor agreed. When Deng had first given his assurances he had thought that this policy was very clear and that it dealt with the problem. Later he had realised that for Deng's assurances to be implemented eventually, supplementary action must be taken meanwhile. Li agreed, adding that it seemed it would be necessary to find ways of making Deng's assurances more concrete.
12.
The Governor said he thought it had been useful to clarify the situation. The first essential was to understand the problem - the discrepancy of future Chinese policy and British law and the effect it would soon have then one could try to find the solution. He wished to add one further point. Wang had been present when he had talked to Liao Chengzhih about
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/contd.....