GRS 300
}
DESKBY 06025OZ
FROM PEKING 060225Z NOV 83
TO IMMEDIATE FCO
(STELEGRAM NUMBER 1149 OF 6/11/83
REPEATED FOR INFO TO IMMEDIATE HONG KONG
FUTURE OF HONG KONG
1. AT HIS BRIEFING FOR EC AMBASSADORS ON 5 NOVEMBER,
M. THORN REPORTED THAT HE HAD SEEN DENG THAT MORNING
AND THAT DENG HAD SPENT SOME TIME ON THE SUBJECT OF HONG KONG.
THE FOREIGN MINISTER, WU, HAD ALSO SPOKEN ON
HONG KONG, THOUGH LESS EMPHATICALLY. DENG HAD ALSO SPOKEN ABOUT
TAIWAN IN THE CONTEXT OF SUPPLIES OF ARMS BY THE AMERICANS
AND PARTICULARLY THE DUTCH.
2. ON HONG KONG, DENG HAD SPOKEN WITH ADMIRATION OF MRS
THATCHER BUT SAID HER IDEA OF ADMINISTRATION WOULD NOT WORK.
HE WANTED TO CONCLUDE THE ISSUE BY SEPTEMBER 1984. HE REJECTED
THE BRITISH COUNTER-PROPOSAL OF CO-ADMINISTRATION. CHINA COULD ACCEPT BRITISH EXPERTS BUT FULL SOVEREIGNTY AND ADMINISTRATION
MUST BE CHINESE. IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES IT MIGHT EVEN
BE NECESSARY TO TAKE HONG KONG OVER EARLIER THAN 1997. CHINA
AWAS READY TO PERMIT AN INTERMEDIATE PHASE IN WHICH THE PRESENT SYSTEMS WOULD BE RETAINED, BUT THERE COULD BE NO COMPROMISE ON SOVEREIGNTY AND ADMINISTRATION. HONG KONG WOULD
TAIWAN WOULD BE RECOVERED
BE RECOVERED IN 1997 OR EARLIER.
SUONER OR LATER. CHINA HAD TIME.
2