102
CHGEO-352/11
T/L
FCO
T/L
PEKING
GPS 220
by CH 13/5
сес
to Thousa FE
Mwather, RD
Mlowe Myft Si
сов
15/5-
HKK040 11.57
||
RESTRICTED
TELELETTER
FROM:
R P MARGOLIS
DATE:
10 MAY 1983
TO:
W MORRIS ESQ
HK AND GD
FCO
TRY
INDEX
by CHOils
C.C.:
R N PEIRCE ESQ
H M EMBASSY PEKING
18 MAY 1983
ACADEMICS' VISIT TO PEKING: ARTICLE IN BAI XING SEMI-MONTHLY
THE 1 MAY EDITION OF THE BAI XING SEMI-MONTHLY CARRIED AN ACCOUNT OF THE DISCUSSIONS WHICH THE DELEGATION OF ACADEMICS WHO VISITED PEKING LAST MONTH HAD WITH LIAO CHENGZHI AND SOME OF HIS COLL- EAGUES. THE ARTICLE ATTRACTED SOME ATTENTION IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE PRESS LOCALLY BECAUSE IT WAS PICKED UP BY AFP. I AM SENDING A TRANSLATION OF THE ARTICLE BY BAG TO YOU AND BOB PEIRCE.
2. THE ACCOUNT OF THE DISCUSSIONS IN THE ARTICLE CORRESPONDS CLOSELY TO THE ACCOUNTS RECEIVED DIRECTLY FROM MEMBERS OF THE GROUP AND REPORTED BY TELEGRAM. THE PARTICULAR POINTS OF INTEREST ARE:
A) THE IDEA THAT HONG KONG AND MACAU WOULD EVENTUALL BECOME ONE ENTITY. THIS WAS MENTIONED IN OTHER ACCOUNTS, BUT IS MORE CLEARLY STATED IN THE BAI XING ARTICLE. IT MAY BE A CONSTRUCTION PLACED BY THE ACADEMICS THEMSELVES ON THE ASSERTION THAT CONTROL OF MACAU WOULD BE RESUMED AT THE SAME TIME AS RECOVERY OF SOVEREIGNTY ÜVER HONG KONG,
B) THE POSSIBILITY OF INTERVENTION BEFORE 1997 IF THE BRITISH REFUSED TO CO-OPERATE IS MORE STARKLY STATED THAN IN PREVIOUS ACCOUNTS.
C) THE ARTICLE CONCLUDES WITH SOME COMMENT FROM BAI XING, DES- CRIBING THE ANSWERS GIVEN TO THE ACADEMICS AS QUOTE IRRELEVANT OR UNCONVINCING UNQUOTE. THE COMMENT ADDS THAT IT WILL BE DIFFICULT TO PREDICT WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN TO THE CHINESE LEADERSHIP IN 14 YEARS TIME AND WHETHER PROMISES MADE BY THE PRESENT GEN- ERATION WOULD BE HONOURED. IT IS UNUSUAL TO SEE SUCH OUTSPOKEN CRITICISM IN MAGAZINES OF THIS KIND, BUT BAI XING HAS, IN GENERAL, BEEN MORE SCEPTICAL ABOUT CHINESE ASSERTIONS THAN MOST.
SIGNED: R P MARGOLIS-
NNNN
A
V.