Mr Crift HKD
HKK 027/20
Нак
LCEIVED IN REGISTRY NO. 51
22 SEP 1983
FROM:
DATE:
CC:
#Y
INUSK
PH
ion Token
FUTURE OF HONG KONG :
Mr. Mario Pl.
IVOR ROBERTS
iss (70)
speak Dink
13 September 1983
PS/Mr Luce
Mr Giffard
Mr Donald o/r Mr Thomson, FED
LINE FOR MR LUCE TO TAKE WITH THE PRESS
1. Your minute of 9 September invited additional suggestions or comments.
The briefing prepared by your department is, if I may say so, very com- prehensive on the future. Judging by my experience with Lord Belstead,
questions on the future will predominate but there were one or two bilateral
questions eg on tuition fees and MFA. These are both no longer burning
issues but you will be the best judge of what bilateral bones of contention
have taken their place, if any.
2. Turning to the questions on the future I have the following comments:
Sir Percy Cradock's future? For how long will he remain in Peking?
i)
ii)
Apart from the Governor will any other Hong Kong representatives be included in the future negotiations?
iii) Frequent change of Minister responsible for Hong Kong not conducive
to confidence.
iv)
v)
vi)
Deadline for Hong Kong 1997? (Hu Yao Bang's statement of 16 July)
Timetable for talks. Clare Hollingsworth told Richard Clarke on
9 September that many influential Hong Kong Chinese are now con-
vinced of the acceptance of a September 1984 deadline. I suggest
therefore enlarging the present draft reply to read ''I cannot make
any useful forecast of how long the talks will take. The issues
are complex and are not helped by suggestions, however inspired,
of artificial deadlines. It is far more important to get the
right answer for the people of Hong Kong than to get the wrong solution after a rushed negotiation.''
....
Ministers' participation in the talks - add '' no plans for the
Secretary of State to join the talks. I do not however rule out
Ministerial participation at an appropriate time if this was felt
necessary. [The reference to confidence in Sir P Cradock in this
answer may give rise to questions about his own future.]
11
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