Sir P Cradock
Private Secretary
SECRET
HIKKO 4031
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY
19SEP 1984,
DESK OFFICE
INDEX
ويلم
·EGISTRY
Action Taken
ma GR/28/9
FROM: A C GALSWORTHY, HKD
DATE: 19 September 1984
cc: PS/Mr Luce
PS/PUS
we will fee
(116)
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FUTURE OF, HONG KONG: TIMING OF PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE ON THE
AGREEMENT
The Sy s'resme.
PROBLEM
To fix an approximate date for the Parliamentary debate on the
Agreement.
1.
RECOMMENDATION
That the Secretary of State should consider the possibility of
a debate in the second week of December.
2.
BACKGROUND
There is some urgency about this decision because it will determine the length of the test of acceptability in Hong Kong.
3.
4.
We are committed to signing the Agreement before the end of the
year. The Chinese are still under the impression that the
Parliamentary debate will be in November, but provided that the
commitment to signing before the end of the year is not threatened, I think that they will consider the actual timing of the
Parliamentary debate to be our domestic business.
5. When I last discussed this with him the Secretary of State took
the view that the latest safe date would be the first week of
December, ie 3-7 December. On the assumption that it would be necessary to publish the report of the Assessment Office and the
Monitors approximately one week before the debate, in order to enable Parliament to consider them, this would me an that we would
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