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Mr Heath has relayed it correctly to the British Government.
But it was to be expected that the opening Chinese position
would be a hard one, ie insisting on sovereignty and going for
the same kind of solution as they offered to Taiwan in the
autumn of last year.
3. Sir E Youde has sent his own comments to HM Ambassador
in Peking and the Governor of Hong Kong about the Heath/Deng
discussion (copy attached). I entirely agree that we should
not get drawn into substantive discussions with the Chinese
before we are ready for them. It will be extremely important
to get the Prime Minister fully briefed between now and her
visit in September.
4. I hope the Secretary of State will agree to have an oral
briefing about the future of Hong Kong when time permits and
before the main briefing of the Prime Minister in May.
15 April 1982
Artwald
meld
A E Donald
cc: Mr Elliott
Mr Clift
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