布政司署
香港下亞畢道
OUR Ref.:
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1982
CONFIDENTIAL
GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT
LOWER ALBERT ROAD
HONG KONG
30
!IKK091/1
RECEIVED IN REGATRY NO. 51
-
- 6 JUN 1983
DESK OFFICE
INDEX
PA
R D Clift Esq
No
Ther
HK & GD
FCO
Dear Dick,
REGISTRY
Action Take
5-95428
28 May, 1983
Copied to
Mm. Cox, FED
In Welker, Restarts.
Mrs. Priest 45176.
Mr. Morris Twee Consider copying
or
Hong Kong/Shenzhen Joint Working Groups
ᄉ
comment pl
$23%
As agreed with the Shenzhen authorities last October (my letter of 21 October 1982) a Hong Kong team visited Shenzhen on 28 and 29 April to review progress in the four joint working groups of experts set up under the agreement signed on 30 April 1982.
2.
Once again the Shenzhen side were keen to have an agreed record. I enclose a copy of the draft prepared by them together with an English translation which incorporates our proposed amendments (where underlined). I also enclose our own detailed record of the review session.
3.
You will see that we were able to agree on the usefulness of the joint working groups and the arrangements under which they operate. You will see, too, that on matters of substance the Shenzhen side pressed for faster progress in some areas. This was particularly the case with the Sha Tau Kok bridge, to which it was clear that the Shenzhen authorities now attach high priority. They asked that we should agree to start engineering work in the middle of this year and complete the project by the end of the year, and were clearly disappointed when we were obliged to say that targets of this kind were not realistic. We said that from the Hong Kong point of view the earliest the project could be completed was the end of 1984. The Chinese did not contest this but showed that they meant to keep up the pressure by asking for a further meeting of the joint working group in mid-May. The group met on 19 May and the Hong Kong side confirmed that the earliest we would be ready to open the bridge was the end of 1984.
CONFIDENTIAL
/4.