PERSONAL AND IN CONFIDENCE
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
From The Minister of State
Richard Luce MP
8 August 1984
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10 AUG 1984
34
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I am sorry that it has not been possible to speak on the telephone as I had hoped, and that this letter will therefore come to you rather out of the blue.
My purpose in attempting to get in touch on the telephone was in connection with our talks with the Chinese on Hong Kong. Specifically, it was to ask whether you might be willing to serve as the UK member of the Monitoring Team to be appointed by the British Government, as part of arrangements to test the acceptability in Hong Kong of an agreement with the Chinese Government on the future of the territory.
2
I am sure you know the general background. For almost years we have been negotiating with the Chinese Government over the future of Hong Kong. The negotiations are now, we hope, in their final stages, and our aim is to initial an agreement before the end of September. committed to publishing the draft agreement and testing its acceptability to the people of Hong Kong.
We are then 35
I enclose a copy of a document which was tabled in the House of Commons on 18 July, and which describes the arrange- ments which will be made for conducting the test of acceptability. As you
will see, the text of the draft agreement, together with an explanatory memorandum, will be widely distributed in Hong Kong with an invitation to the population to comment. Their views will be collected and analysed by an Assessment Office set up under the authority of the Governor. This Office will have the task of submitting a report through the Governor to HMG and Parliament. The point which immediately concerns me, however, is that we have decided in consultation with the Hong Kong Government that a team of two independent monitors, appointed by the British Government, should observe the work of the Assessment Office and submit its own report on whether the
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The Rt Hon Sir Patrick Nairne GCB MC PC Master's Lodgings
St Catherine's College
OXFORD
/Office