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delegation that Britain would maintain its commitment. continuing responsibility was enshrined in the text of the Joint Declaration. She was personally deeply committed to carrying out the provisions. The Prime Minister continued that she had taken careful note of what Sir S.Y. Chung had said about the pace of movement to a representative form of government. She could give an absolute assurance that HMG would not in any way sacrifice Hong Kong's interests to those of Sino-British relations. Our moral responsibiilty to Hong Kong would not cease with the signing of the Joint Declaration. The Prime Minister concluded that she would ask Sir Geoffrey Howe and Mr. Luce to follow up some of the more detailed points which Sir S.Y. Chung had touched upon.
The Prime Minister said that she would welcome the advice of the delegation on how she should handle her own visit to Hong Kong. Sir S.Y.Chung said that her main objective should be to allay fears about the future. She could best do this by speaking in the same terms as she had in the present meeeting. The unofficial survey of public opinion which LEGCO had commissioned showed that, while a very high proportion of Hong Kong people accepted the Agreement, an equally high proportion wanted reassurance about aspects of it. It was important to convince them that HMG would do everything it could to ensure that the Agreement was implemented in full for the whole of its span.
Mr. Allen Lee said that there was a general belief in Hong Kong in Deng's sincerity and commitment to the Agreement. But he was 80 years old. While many in Hong Kong would hope that he would survive until 1997 - the Prime Minister interjected that she would tell Deng that he must do so
- the question of succession would be watched carefully since it was important for the faithful implementation of the Agreement. The Foreign Secretary
pointed out that the Joint Declaration made clear that it was HMG's responsibility to administer Hong Kong until 1997. The Chinese Government wanted us to run it well and hand it over in good shape.
It
Mrs Lydia Dunn said that she was concerned at the lack of understanding among some Members of Parliament of the importance of not forcing the pace on the development of representative government. It must be in place before 1997. But the Chinese Government would hold HMG accountable for the actions and policies of a representative government. was therefore important to do nothing which put in jeopardy Hong Kong's stability and prosperity. The Prime Minister agreed that this needed careful handling. She hoped that the Foreign Secretary would deal with the point in his speech in the House this afternoon.
Miss Tam suggested that one means of reassuring Hong Kong opinion would be to have an annual report on the implementation of the Agreement. With this, people would know that if something went wrong, they could come to EXCO or the British Government for help in getting it corrected. The Prime Minister said that this would also need to be
CONFIDENTIAL