CONFIDENTIAL
Record of a Talk by the Political Adviser to
Congressman Joseph Addabbo and Others on 10 January 1983
1997
The Political Adviser began by describing the nature of the problem over Hong Kong's future and the significance of the year
1997.
According to three Treaties signed between Britain and China in the 19th century, the major part of the territory of Hong Kong
was due to be returned to China in 1997. However it was now generally recognised that it would be unrealistic so to divide the territory its various parts being mutually interdependent and any arrange- ments for the future would have to apply to Hong Kong as a whole.
2.
Concern for the future of Hong Kong became marked at the end.
of the 1970s with the realisation in 1980 that the year 1997 was
in "the next decade." Although the Chinese authorities displayed no particular disposition to worry about a problem that seemed so relatively far ahead, it was apparent that they too had begun to appreciate the concern and anxieties of businessmen, investors and others over Hong Kong. When the then Governor of Hong Kong háð visited China in March 1979 (the first time a Governor had done so officially since 1949) DENG Xiaoping had told him to tell investors in Hong Kong to "set their hearts at ease." This generally reassuring point of view had been reiterated when the then Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrington, visited China in March 1981. A visit to China by the Lord Privy Seal, Mr. Humphrey Atkins, at the beginning of 1982 provided a further opportunity to remind the Chinese authorities of investors' concern about the future.
Chinese authorities had assured Mr. Atkins of their desire to see Hong Kong continue as a free port and a commercial and
financial centre.
The
CONFIDENTIAL
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