Walter M. Sulke
O.B.E. J.P.
1st Floor, Bonaventure House, Leighton Road, Hong Kong. G.P.O. Box 1317, Telegrams: 'WALSULKE'. Telex: 71871 Telephone: 5-7957288
The Rt. Hon. Margaret Thatcher, M.P.,
10 Downing Street,
London ENGLAND.
WC1,
13th February, 1984
Rav YRS Vintilur Thakur
4102
Although my home is in Hong Kong, when I stay in London I actually use a flat in North Finchley, in your constituency, so sending you the attached is not as much of a liberty as it may appear to be!
Since you are personally concerned with the Hong Kong 1997 negotiations I would be grateful if you read the attached speech which was based on a lot of grass roots input, and I believe reflects accurately the feeling of the majority of Hong Kong's population.
I realise that the Hong Kong Government feels it cannot run a Referendum without considerable pressure to give them at least some semblance of justification vis a vis Beijing. However, it is doubtful whether in the short time available a leader and a party could be found here to give voice to the aspirations of the population.
I am sure it would be useful for the negotiations in Beijing to actually be able to point to the result of a Referendum and I hope that the Hong Kong Government could be persuaded to run such a Referendum even without the justification of public pressure since surely it is only fair that Hong Kong's population should be asked what solution to the problem they prefer.
WMS/FS/11
Yours inspectfully корирова
(W.M. SULKE
al