THIS IS A COPYECRET
THE ORIGINAL HAS BEEN RETAINED
IN THE DEPARTMENT UNDER
SECTION 3 (4) OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS ACT 1958
MR DONALD
PS
minte
HKK0fell
RECEN SO IN REGISTRY
12 DEC 1983
CANCIE
CHI6/1
fear
FROM: R D CLIFT
DATE: 6 December 1983
cc:PS/Lady Young
PS/Mr Luce
PS/PUS
Mr Giffard
Mr Wright
Mr Flower, PUSD Mr Thompson, FED
State
756
B
Haches!
C
PROBLEM
1.
To reply to Lord Shawcross' letter of 30 November to the Secretary of State requesting a briefing on Privy Counsellor terms on the current state of play on Hong Kong's future.
atturiced
RECOMMENDATION
I recommend that the Secretary of State write to Lord
Shawcross in terms of the attached draft.
FED agree.
2.
BACKGROUND AND ARGUMENT
3.
He
Lord Shawcross has a keen interest in Hong Kong where the
Morgan Bank (for which he is a special Adviser) is active.
Following a visit there in the autumn of 1982, Lord Shawcross
asked Mr Pym for an assessment of the Hong Kong situation.
was subsequently briefed on the subject by Mr Giffard on 28 April
1983 (before visiting China as a guest of the Chinese People's
Institute of Foreign Affairs), by Mr Luce on 7 September and by
the Secretary of State on 4 October.
4.
We should be extremely careful about any fresh briefing
for Lord Shawcross. He has visited China on several occasions
and has been received there at a high level. He is in close
touch with the Chinese Embassy here. Reports
indicate that he has already discussed Hong Kong's future with the Chinese Ambassador. There is every possibility that a frank description of our position would be relayed to the Chinese and possibly misinterpreted in terms either of excessive rigidity or of readiness to accept their conditions. There could nevertheless
be
SECR T