Mr_Stift, HKGD (K246)
cc: Mr Thomson, FED
Mr Donald
HOUSE OF LORDS
DEBATE: LORD RHODES
Enkin
275
ник
04011
*IVE #RECASTRI AD
261
املاک
ا کیا
Plas 21)5
1.
Further to your submission of 13 May Lord Belstead spoke to
Lord Rhodes yesterday in advance of the debate.
brought with him Lord Kadoorie.
2.
Lord Rhodes
Lord Rhodes sketched the line he proposed to take in the
debate including a suggestion that the Chinese might undertake to give 30 years notice before acting to retake jurisdiction in the
New Territories. Asked to comment, Lord Kadoorie said that no-one in present day China could make undertakings that would last 30
years: this was simply asking for the impossible. But he saw no
harm in Lord Rhodes making the point.
3. Lord Belstead thanked Lord Rhodes for clearing his lines with
us. We did not want to talk about abrogating treaties or making new laws at this juncture. With the visit by the Prime Minister
to China imminent we did not want anything said which might be
misconstrued. With emotions running high on the Falklands this
was particularly important.
4.
Lord Rhodes immediately took the point and agreed to make
only a general reference to the need for and agreement with China
over the future of Hong Kong (which in the event he did).
This
5. Lord Kadoorie then spoke about the future of Hong Kong. would turn on the success of the Special Economic Zones in China,
in particular that adjacent to Hong Kong. This zone must be made
to work. As he saw it once the pace of economic activity over
/the border