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4. Hong Kong opinion attaches importance to the
registration of the agreement at the UN. Although unilateral registration by one or both parties is the more common
practice, joint registration, for which there are precedents,
has some attraction in this case. The procedure would have
symbolic importance in demonstrating the political commitment of both sides to the implementation of the agreement.
5.
Although the Chinese are not likely to take any
initiative on registration, we judge that there is a
possibility of their agreeing to joint registration.
Encouraging signs are Wu Xueqian's statement to the NPC Standing Committee about the legal status of the agreement
and attempts by Chinese leaders to allay concern in Hong Kong about their commitment to implementing the agreement. But i f
the Chinese were to refuse to agree to joint registration we
would have to persist in registering the agreement unilaterally.
6. We have had some discussion with Peking and Hong Kong
about this, and about the timing of any approach to the
Chinese. We are all agreed that it is worth having a try for joint registration. Hong Kong are in favour of approaching
the Chinese about it sooner rather than later so that we
shall be in a position to answer questions about what we
intend to do in the run-up to ratification. Peking expressed
a preference, though not a very strong one, for leaving the
matter until after ratification. We agree with Hong Kong, who
have now proposed that the Secretary of State should raise
the matter at his meeting with Wu Xueqian during the Prime
Minister's visit. We agree that this is a good moment to put down a marker, which can be followed up later.
7. Hong Kong were a little concerned that we would be
registering only the agreement and its Annexes, and not the Exchange of Memoranda. There are in fact procedures which
bring the Exchange of would enable us to "file and record"the Exchange
Memoranda with the UN,
to the attention of
to send a copy of them to the UN
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