DHC
Mr Upton
CONFIDENTIAL
Reference..
MKKO40/6
RELEVEDO
24 MAY 1984
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9
DINNER WITH CHINESE OFFICIALS
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Mr Upton and I entertained Mr Hu Chuanzhong and Mrs Guo Guifang of the PRC Embassy's political section on 8 May 1984. We discussed the following current topics with Hu.
2. Hong Kong: Hu said that his leaders were well satisfied with the progress in recent exchanges and that they now accepted that there was a sense of urgency on both sides. The PRC leadership has been taking soundings of Hong Kong reactions. It is their belief that the people of Hong Kong are content with the way the Anglo-PRC talks are progressing. Hu made reference to (the new PRC "Consulate" in Hong Kong (as he described it) but said
that the soundings to which he had referred were being taken in Peking, ie from a cross section of Hong Kong visitors. Hu said that his leaders still regarded Sept 84 as the deadline for an agreement in principle, about the future of Hong Kong, but they accepted that the presentation of that agreement to the British Parliament would have to take place after Sept 84. Hu repeated the standard line that the PRC would guarantee the continuation of the "Capitalist" system in Hong Kong for 50 years. He said that this guarantee would complement the PRC's overall economic strategy of bringing all PRC provinces up to a Western standard of living by the year 2030, ie implying that the Hong Kong special economic zone would effectively cease to be special by about that date. ir Upton made the point to Hu that British Parliamentary acceptance of an agreement in principle can never be taken for granted, eg the example of the debate over repatriating the Canadian Constitution. The chances of an agreement/passing through Parliament would be greatly enhanced if it was a comprehensive and detailed package and not just a roughly outlined concept. Hu said that he could understand that point but it seemed that he still placed considerable reliance on Mrs Thatcher's personal acceptance of any agreement.
3. Hu's comments seemed to derive from PRC media comment and possibly the equivalent of our guidance telegrams. There have also been a number of delegations from the PRC to their Embassy in recent weeks, all of whom no doubt bear tidings from Peking.
Hu once again initiated discussion of Hong Kong. This, and the fact that he appeared to be simplistically optimistic, about both the present negotiations and the future of the Colony, may suggest that there is an orchestrated campaign in which PRC diplomats are under instructions to "encourage" their British colleagues to take a "positive" view of the negotiations, ie positive in PRC terms.
4. Reagan Visit: I asked Hu whether anything constructive had resulted from President Reagan's visit to the PRC. Hu said that the one positive result was that Reagan now had a better under- standing of PRC perceptions. I remarked that, as seen in the Australian media, it seemed that no progress had been made in two important areas, viz Taiwan and the American concept of closer US-PRC cooperation against the Soviet threat.
CONFIDENTIAL
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