SECRET DEDIP
of Hong Kong is participating on the British side
as
appropriate.
in accordance with the requirements of the talks
(eg he did so at both the July meetings and the→
The Chinese are insistent that
August meeting).
the talks are bilateral between Britain and
China and that the Hong Kong Government is not
a third party. In practice, however, we are in close
consultation with the Hong Kong Executive Council
and are taking their views into account.
3.
The atmosphere at the July and August rounds
was good, and the Chinese behaved better in the
sense that there were fewer leaks and less propaganda pressure. However, following the meeting
held on 3 August, Yao Guang did breach confidence
at a dinner with Scandanavian Ambassadors whilst
on 15 August, CCP General Secretary, Hu Yaobang
Position talk
gave a distorted view of the talks to Japanese
reporters. He told them that "Chinese would
recover sovereignty over Hong Kong on 1 July 1997
and gave the erroneous impression that we had
already conceded China's premise on sovereignty.
Despite the friendly atmosphere at the
4.
three rounds, the Chinese line on substance was
tough Throughout. progressively tough. They held to their position
on sovereignty and added to this the line that
sovereignty and administration were not divisible
Both sides rehearsed their basic views on Hong
Kong and more details emerged of China's Hong
Kong 'Plan'. HMG's objective during all these
meetings was to explain to the Chinese the
complexity of Hong Kong's economy and legal
system, The importance of the British link in
maintaining confidence and the consequent
/distrust
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