a
DRAFT TELEGRAM
TO IMMEDIATE PEKING
RFI IMMEDIATE HONG KONG
FUTURE OF HONG KONG
SECRET
1.
Following consultation with the Unofficial Members of EXCO,
Ministers have now considered the future course of the talks, in
particular the risk, as a result of Chinese intransigence, of an early breakdown with consequent severe damage to the Hong Kong
economy and to the well-being of its people.
2. The British Government's aim throughout has been to preserve the essential freedoms and commercial and financial vitality of Hong Kong. They continue to see the best interests of Hong Kong people
being served by a negotiated settlement, to the successful
implementation of which both Britain and China would be committed. They recognise that confrontation would bring severe and possibly irretrievable damage in its train, and have therefore considered
other ways of making progress consistent with the Prime Minister's
letter of 10 March.
3. Against this background you should seek an early meeting with
Vice Foreign Minister Yao Guang at which you should convey the
following message, saying you are speaking on the instructions of
the Prime Minister.
Begins.
4.
The Prime Minister recalls her visit to Peking in September 1982
and the important discussions she then held with Chairman Deng
Xiaoping and Premier Zhao Ziyang. At the conclusion of those talks
both sides agreed to hold diplomatic discussions on Hong Kong with the object of maintaining its future stability and prosperity.
The
British Government remain of the view that with statesmanship on
both sides an agreement can be achieved that would be in the
interest of both Britain and China and, most important of all, would
continue to assure the well-being of the people of Hong Kong.
SECRET