Mr Donald
вага
Miere 04011
CONFIDENTIAL
attached
تدا
(ZOA)
223
FUTURE OF HONG KONG SIR JOHN KESWICK
You asked for comments on Sir John's handwritten solution to the Hong Kong lease problem that you might put into your reply.
1.
2.
I think you might say that we found it thought-provoking and agree that it is probably right to look for solutions to the cuture that take account of the pragmatic approach of the present Chinese leadership. You might wonder, however, whether the Chinese would in fact find the proposal politically acceptable for all the economic benefit they would derive from it. The length of the proposed arrangement (100 years) is only one problem. It is also questionable whether the World Bank or ADB would be prepared to get involved in a semi-political role. They would take some convincing!
Bun
See (286
6 November 1981
R D Clift
Hong Kong and General Department
CONFIDENTIAL