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CONFIDENTIAL
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This Copy for:
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File No: HKK 091/1
Mr Williamson fro.6. Authors shumed draft cette to PA
Mr
Clift
Hong Kong and General Dept.
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AGREEMENT BETWEEN SHENZHEN AND HONG KONG ON OPENING UP NEW LINKS BETWEEN THE TWO SIDES.
1.
Hick
ALLE
1982
The agreement signed on 30 April 1982 and enclosed with Mr McLaren's letter of 142 May contains no doubt
a number of desirable and admirably practical provisions for cooperation between the authorities on each side of the border between Hong Kong and China.
2. I think it should be regarded as a agreement between two local authorities, rather than an international agreement concluded between the UK and China upon delegated authority. Nethertheless I think that before any future arrangements of this kind are concluded it would be prudent for the FCO to be consulted. We must always remember that, whatever dealings we may have with China over Hong Kong, there is an underlying legal dispute as to sovereignty over the territory, and great care needs to be taken not to prejudice our own position in that dispute. This will be particularly so as we increase our contacts and begin to negotiate with them over the future of Hong Kong. Our strong claim to sovereignty over what we loosely describe as the ceded territories will be one of our best cards in that game, and we should not allow its value to be inadvertently whittled away by indiscreet admissions now.
3. Fortunately I do not think that our position has been eroded by anything in this agreement. The reverse is rather the case, because the agreement appears to acknowledge that the British political adviser who signed, the agreement has lawful authority to conclude agreements on behalf of Hong Kong, and that there are competent British authorities who are entitled to make laws in Hong Kong (see Article IV(2). However if the Working Groups to be set up under Article VII keep records, constant watch will need to be kept that we give nothing away.
4.
All this reinforces my view that we shall be in a safer /position
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