CONFIDENTIAL
undermined by the fact that, in the discussion with Huang Hua, the Secretary of State did not follow the line recommended from here (Hong Kong telno 310). In ending the conversation, after Teddy Youde had said the Chinese points would be referred to the Governor, by saying that we would do our best to find a solution to the problem the onus of solving, or failing to do so, might be thought to have been placed on Hong Kong.
5.
We have therefore looked carefully again at the alternative: legislation. None of the disadvantages we previously saw have diminished. However, we must accept that, within about five years or so, we will probably have an official Chinese representative here and that this could now happen without major repercussions in a way which would have been impossible a few years ago. It remains, however, a card not to be thrown away without getting something in return. With this in mind a Visa Office with formal privileges, but carefully circumstribed role, is only going one step along a road we will one day have to follow. Arguably it is better to take this step now than to allow the problem to fester. We have the impression from here that this is the implied advice of the FCO and possibly of the embassy also.
6.
Having looked at the options for legislation it is now clear that the apparently simple device of adding the Visa Office to a list of those entitled to privileges would not work. The existing legislation is not devised in a way which would make this possible. However, it would be possible to produce a bill saying that certain, or all, sections of the Consular Privileges Ordinance (Cap 259 - copy enclosed for Peking) would apply mutatis mutandis, to the Visa Office. This has the merit of shortness. lt also, however, has the strong disadvantage of suggesting that the Visa Office is a consulate in all but name. This would make it harder to persuade the public that the office was precisely what it is called and nothing more.
7.
The alternative would be a self-contained bill which extracts from the Consular Privileges Ordinance the privileges and immunities which the Chinese have requested, or which seem to us appropriate, and changes or amends the language as necessary to apply them to the Visa Office. Our Legal Department have produced a draft of what this would look like which I am now enclosing with this letter. It is a first attempt and may still need some fine tuning. It should be noted that what are provided are consular privileges (i.e. those deriving from the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations) and not the fuller diplomatic privileges which, in general, are not applicable in Hong Kong except to transients.
CONFIDENTIAI
d.
2.