Mr. Hym Mr.
Mr Clift
15/10
CONEIDENTIAL
MKK0405
FROM:
A E Donald
RECEIVED WINE MISTRY
MD 19783
DATE:
la.
Ks
NZ
а
HONG KONG AND BRUNEI
·
россбра
cc:
14 October 1983
PS/Mr Luce
PS/Mr Whitney
Mr Giffard
Mr Chick, SPD
Mr Thomson, FED
829
Mr Hartland-Swann, SEAD
Personal to:
Sir R Stratton, Wellington Mr Galsworthy, Peking
Mr Maclaren,
Hong Kong
1. I had a long conversation this morning with Mr H H (Tim)
Francis, Deputy Under-Secretary in the New Zealand Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, on a wide range of topics of mutual concern. He was accompanied by Mr Bruce Brown, NZ Deputy High Commissioner.
Mr Francis is in London with the NZ Minister of External Affairs
and Foreign Trade and was present when Mr Cooper saw the Prime
Minister and the Secretary of State.
2. After dealing with an assortment of subjects, Mr Francis
said that they had had a very good visit by Mr Whitney. He had been able to give a briefing on Hong Kong among other topics.
I said that we had been conscious of the fact that we had not
been able to keep our friends, particularly in the Old Common-
wealth, as fully informed on the negotiations on Hong Kong as we
would normally have wished. The negotiations, however, were exceedingly delicate. I was not at liberty to discuss the detail of the talks but I could give some general background comment
which might be helpful to Mr Francis and his Minister.
3. I said that we were determined to find a solution through
negotiation. We had taken the view that the best and surest way of maintaining confidence in Hong Kong, and hence its continued stability and prosperity, was to retain a continued British
administration after 1997. The problem was one of finding a
guarantee against Chinese interference and we saw the most
satisfactory way in seeking a continued British presence. the other hand, the Chinese were insisting, as they had always
insisted, that sovereignty over Hong Kong was theirs and that this position must be maintained. It was a matter of principle for them. The difficulty was that it appeared, certainly from
On
/Chinese
CONFIDENTIAL