Mr

r Att,

HKD

CONFIDENTIAL

MKK040/16

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04576

FROM:

HB WARREN-GASH

1

1923

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11

DATE: 6 October 1983

Private Secretary PS/PUS

Mr Giffard

Mr Donald

acrall

HONG KONG : MR HAL MILLER MP

1. Mr Hal Miller MP rang Mr Luce this morning about Hong Kong.

2. He said that he had had ''a further message'' (implicitly from the authorities in Peking) since the last round of talks on Hong Kong. Much of it turned out to be the standard Chinese propaganda line about the indivisibility of sovereignty and administration, coupled with willingness to negotiate on virtually everything else if only we would concede on this point. But his interlocutor had gone on to say that, as part of a deal on these lines, the Chinese would be prepared to contemplate the possibility of a British Deputy Governor in Hong Kong after 1997. The British could also be invited to stay on in other key positions. Mr Luce thanked him for this message, but was non-committal.

3. There was also some conversation about Mr Adley's approach. Mr Miller said that he was prepared to do anything we would find helpful to counter Mr Adley's views if he should seek renewed publicity for them. He had, for this very reason, put in for an Adjournment Debate on Hong Kong to give Ministers a chance to make a public statement rebutting the Adley approach if they wished to do so. This was a contingency measure. If nothing happened, and Ministers were not looking for a platform, he would be quite happy to withdraw his bid.

Mr Luce thanked him for his offer of help. Although we are most unlikely to welcome an Adjournment Debate, this is not an imminent possibility, and Mr Luce did not think it would be right at this stage to sound too negative in the face of a genuine offer of help.

4.

Mr. Ami, 4/10

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