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should be asked to accept the following, slightly cutailed
timetable:
1 October (at the latest): publication of White Paper.
19 November latest date for presentation to Parliament of the
assessment report.
Week beginning 26 November: debates in Parliament.
This would permit a minimum of 7 weeks for the consultation exercise and the preparation of the assessment report, rather than the two
months
which the Governor favours.
21. If the proposals put forward in this paper are agreed, the general approach to be adopted should be announced in Parliament and
in Hong Kong at an early opportunity.
22.
It is for consideration whether the Chinese government should
be informed before an announcement is made. Their formal position is that only they can represent the views of the people of Hong Kong
and that it is therefore unacceptable that the principle
of Chinese resumption of the exercise of sovereignty and the right of administration should be subject to public consultation in Hong
Kong. They will therefore watch any activities related to
to the
conduct of a test of acceptability with care, and with suspicion. It could be argued that they should be left to follow developments
on their own and to react to them in their own way. But there are
arguments against our adopting this course. One is that the Chinese
government would be likely to receive biased or distorted accounts
of what was taking place from their Own sources. Another is that
they could accuse us of being less than honest with them if we were to volunteer nothing. Our conclusion, therefore, is that it would
be wise to inform them. But it would be best not to do this until
very shortly before an announcement was made. It would also be better not to do this during a round of the formal talks. This
suggests a call by the Ambassador in Peking on Assistant Minister Zhou Nan to tell him about the impending announcement, emphasising
that he was doing this simply as a matter of courtesy.
Hong Kong Department
20 June 1984
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