{
BACKGROUND
1. Mr Adley is Chairman of the Anglo-Chinese Parliamentary Group and visited Hong Kong in November 1983. He regularly asks questions on Hong Kong.
2. Mr Adley holds strong views on the question of Hong Kong's future, which he has aired publicly and in correspondence with Ministers. He is also interested in democratic development in Hong Kong. During the debate on Hong Kong in the House of Commons on 16 May he stated that since China favoured democratisation HMG 'would be mad to do anything other than pursue that cause'. Democratisation of Hong Kong was 'surely the last guarantee for the people of Hong Kong against the imposition upon them of unwanted change in the future'.
3. The Secretary of State is aware of the issues raised by the Hong Kong Government's intention to issue a Green Paper on Constitutional Development next month.
4. The sixteenth round in the talks on Hong Kong, was held in Peking on 12/13 June. The following statement was issued on 13 June:
5.
'The British and Chinese sides continued their useful and constructive talks on the Hong Kong question on 12 and 13 June in Peking. It was agreed that the 17th round of talks would take place on 27 and 28 June in Peking.
It was agreed to establish a working group to consider documents submitted by the two sides in pursuit of their objective of reaching agreement as soon as possible on the question of Hong Kong. The group will meet full-time between rounds of formal talks and will start work in Peking during the week beginning 18 June. The British team for the working group will be led by Dr David Wilson, Assistant Under-Secretary of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom. The Chinese team will be lead by Ambassador Ke Ziashuo of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China. The teams of the two sides will be responsible to the Chairmen of their respective Government delegations, who will remain responsible for the overall conduct of the negotiations.'
The draft reply to Mr Adley's question has been agreed with Hong Kong and Peking.
Distribution
FED