HOFO 028/12
260
DD 12100OZ F C O
00 HONGAID
00 PEKING
RR WASHINGTON
YORK
RR NEW YORK
RR BRUSSELS
RR GENZVA
GENEVA
GRS 300
RESTRICTED
DESKBY FCO 1210OOZ
FM HONG KONG 12090OZ OCT 33
TO IMMEDIATE F C O
TELEGRAM NUMBER 1516 OF 12 OCTOBER
MKK0402
RECEIVED IN REGISTR 7
12 OCT 1983
INFO IMMEDIATE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT OFFICE LONDON, PEKING
Set (61
ROUTINE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVES WASHINGTON, NEW YORK
BRUSSELS AND GENEVA.
FUTURE OF HONG KONG: PRESS COVERAGE
1. OVER THE PAST FEW DAYS THE LOCAL COMMUNIST PRESS HAVE RE-PRINTED IN FULL THE ARTICLES IN THE PEOPLE'S DAILY ON 5, 6 AND 10 OCTOBER REPORTED IN PEKING TELS NOS 987, 991, 1000 AND 1002, BUT WITHOUT FURTHER COMMENT. THEY ALSO GAVE STRAIGHTFORWARD, FACTUAL COVERAGE TO WU XUEQIAN'S COMMENTS IN OTTAWA (OTTAWA TELNO 529), AGAIN WITHOUT EDITORIAL COMMENT.
2. YESTERDAY'S NEW EVENING POST (COMMUNIST) PUBLISHED AN ACCOUNT OF A COLUMNIST'S MEETING-WITH UNIVERSITY CLASSMATES. HE FOUND THEM JITTERY OVER THE FUTURE. THEY DID NOT LOOK FORWARD TO HONG KONG'S SELF-ADMINISTRATION IN 1997 AND WERE THINKING OF EMIGRATING TO ESCAPE A POSSIBLE BREAKDOWN OF STABILITY AND ORDER IN THE TERRITORY. THE COLUMNIST SAID THAT FEARS SUCH AS THESE COULD NOT BE ALLAYED BY STATEMENTS FROM CHINESE LEADERS OR EVEN A ''WRITTEN ASSURANCE, THEIR WORRIES WOULD GRADUALLY DISAPPEAR, HOWEVER, IF CHINA MAINTAINED STABLE AND CONSISTENT POLICHES OVER THE NEXT TEN YEARS.
3. TA KUNG PAO (COMMUNIST) TODAY RAN AN AP DESPATCH QUOTING THE MALAYS HAN PRIME MINISTER AS HAVING ENDORSED CHINA'S RIGHT TO REGAIN SOVEREIGNTY OVER HONG KONG. HE SAID THAT THE TREATIES BY WHICH BRITAIN HAD ACQUIRED HONG KONG WERE UNEQUAL AND SIGNED WHEN CHINA WAS WEAK. NO COUNTRY COULD ACCEPT THAT SUCH TREATIES
WERE FOREVER BINDING.
4. THERE HAS BEEN VIRTUALLY NO NEW COMMENT ON THE FUTURE OF HONG
KONG IN THE INDEPENDENT PRESS.
YOUDE
NNNN